Sunas' Sasuke
by Anonymous131
Summary: After the massacre Sasuke panicked. In a sudden spurt of fear he leaves Konoha and finds himself in Suna. There he has a chance to give up his past as he finds himself living in a land where no one knows his name. He may never forget the night he lost everything, but maybe it isn't so important when he finds himself friends with the village jinchuriki.
1. The Turning Point

As the morning sun peaked over the clouds a light breeze could be felt drifting through the air. Mist covered the bloody ground in a futile attempt to cover the horrors that had taken place during the night. Houses stood in the shadows on the sides of the street, waiting for the victims that would never return. Crows littered the area in murders feasting on the flesh of the dead and cawing in delight. A rotting stench enveloped the area, giving a warning to all those who entered.

A small whimper came from a bundle in the middle of the road. Shuffling could be heard and after a moment a child with black, unruly hair uncurled himself and began to stand up. He slipped several times before finally reaching his goal. Looking around he stumbled back and forth, uncertain of which direction to go. The breathing of the child began to speed up as he tripped up on a severed limb. He felt a scream rising in his throat as he picked himself up and he began to violently tremble. Tears escaped his eyes and he fought against the desire to curl into himself and scream for someone to save him. He darted forward making his way to his clans' gates, avoiding the bodies and pools of blood.

Panting and still trembling, he made it to his destination. He sat outside of the walls for a moment catching his breath. He looked at the top of the wall where a large crow sat on top of the wall watching him. It turned its' head back and forth, looking at him with both eyes. The child stared at the bird for a moment, before the crow began to spread its' wings and caw at him. Seeing the child still near its food source, the bird cawed angrily and flew down to peck at it. The child was frightened and ran as fast as he could. In his fear he didn't realize that the bird had stopped following him. He continued running.

Street after street past by in a blur with early risers just beginning their day. The frightened child ran into a woman carrying a bundle of clothes. She toppled over and looked to see what hit her, but didn't see anything. He nearly ran into a cart, but dogged it at the last second. He could feel that the horror he was running away from was drawing nearer with every step he took. It urged him to move faster. After some time running he found himself at the wall of the village. He knew he had to go further than this. He needed to go before it got him. He ran along the wall in a panic searching for the exit. A gate came into view and he raced towards it. He slowed down as he reached a small crowd of people entering and exiting the gate. Looking around, he could see the gates guards watching. He walked quickly as thoughts of the monster chasing him began to fill his mind. A group of children walked by him suddenly and unintentionally camouflaged his exit.

"Hey teacher!" A little boy with blonde hair called out.

"Yes, Uzumaki?" The teacher asked impatiently.

"Where are we going?" The kid questioned.

"It's a surprise." The teacher answered blandly.

"Oh, okay." The rest of the kids around the black haired child groaned.

The child felt fear begin to overwhelm his body again and he struggled to keep himself from screaming. He separated himself from the other children and made his way into the trees. From there he ran through the forest sticking close to the path, but staying away from any strangers. Although he had to keep resting to catch his breath, he found himself a great distance from the village he'd left before his adrenaline finally ran out. Collapsing onto the ground, he laid on his back and started to cry. Flashes of what happened that night tried to worm their way into his thoughts. He rolled over puked. Then cried and puked more. The stress of his run made it difficult to move and the child could barely think in the pain of his memories. He managed to move a small distance away from his mess and fell asleep in tears.

* * *

When Sasuke finally woke up, he immediately noticed he wasn't home. He was outside surrounded by trees and shadows. The stars were blinking in the night sky and bugs were chirping from within the plant life. He felt numb and lifted an arm to make sure he was still there. A sharp pain erupted from his shoulder and he gasped. He started to stand up feeling his mind start to panic, but could barely move out of exhaustion. Sasuke fell back and tried to breathe properly. He wasn't numb anymore. In fact, he was in so much pain he wished he were numb. The pain receded after a while and Sasuke started to drift off. He laid for some time in the world between dreamland and reality, waiting for sleep to claim him. He watched the sun begin to light up the sky and felt his mind close itself to reality as sleep overtook his body.

* * *

An old man walked slowly down the path. He took a sip of water from his bottle and wiped his forehead. Stopping for a second to shift his backpack, he went on his way. A noise deterred him from his path after a few minutes. He readied himself for an attack as he saw the bushes move. Standing still he waited, until he realized that they weren't coming out. He relaxed a bit and walked closer to the tree line. Pushing aside the bushes branches, he found himself faced with a difficult question. Should he leave the child here to fend for itself or wait for it to wake up and help it to the next village? He really needed to get going, his supplies weren't going to last for much longer and he wasn't quite as fast as he used to be. If he really tried he might make it in a couple of days, but it didn't look like the kid was going to be waking up any time soon.

The man sighed, "You always said I was too much of a softy." He pulled out a blanket from his bag and laid it out on the ground. Then he set his bag off to the side and strained to picked up the child he nearly dropped him several times before making it to the blanket and setting him down as carefully as he could. The kid groaned and rolled over.

"Oh, shush!" The old man replied quietly. He looked the kid over and noted the bruises and scratches on his arms and legs. After a second of rest, he dug through his bag and pulled out some bandages.

"You should count yourself lucky. I don't usually have these with me." He muttered distractedly. Although the kid probably couldn't hear him, it made him feel better to pretend he was listening. He pulled out a bottle of peroxide and dabbed a little onto a piece of cloth.

"Here we go." He walked over and rolled the kid onto his back. Starting with the feet, he wiped the wounds carefully and wrapped a bandage over the afflictions. After the legs were wrapped up he moved to the arms where he found a deep wound.

"What did you get yourself into?" He cried out in surprise. With no answer to satisfy his curiosity he went back to work and thought about it. He wasn't a doctor, but he could see that this wound would require stiches. He frowned, as a traveler he was used to surprises and had a basic knowledge of medical care, but the best he could do for now was disinfect the wound and wrap it up. He never did have the stomach for stitching.

"Alright, we'll just have to get you to a village doctor a soon as you wake up." He informed his unconscious patient. The kid moved his legs a little and tensed his muscles before relaxing. The man placed a blanket over him and started to set up camp.

* * *

The first thing Sasuke noticed as he woke up was that the pain had lessened. He moved to sit up and felt a blanket slid off of himself. It was some time in the afternoon he guessed. He noticed another blanket laid underneath him as he pulled himself up. Looking around he found that he was on the road. Extremely confused, he started to stand up.

"Hey, wait a second!" A strange voice called out. Sasuke fell back into a sitting position startled.

"You shouldn't be getting up so soon." A man with greying brown hair and travelers clothing walked out of the woods with a fish in his arms. Sasukes stomach rumbled at the sight of the fish.

"Ha-ha, just hold on a second and I'll have this cooking for us." The man smiled. Sasuke nodded still confused, but ready for food. The man walked over to a pit and began starting a fire. After a few tries the fire began to slowly eat away at the wood. The man placed the fish on a stick and settled down.

"So, my names Akio. I found you hidden in the trees. So, I pulled you out and fixed you up." He looked over at Sasuke waiting for his reply. He cleared his throat uncomfortably and started again.

"Uh, right, so…what's your name?" Sasuke stared at him for a moment trying to remember his name.

"Oh, well…you don't have to tell me right now, I guess. Why don't you just tell me where you're from?" Akio tried. After some more silence he felt himself grow flustered. "Or just what happened to you? Do you remember anything? Are you able to speak? Can you hear me?"

"Sasuke."

"What?"

"My name's Sasuke." Sasuke said as he moved towards the fire pit.

"Huh? Oh! It's nice to meet you then! I'm Akio…wait, I already…never mind. So where are you from?" Sasuke was quiet for some time.

'Should I tell him? What if he takes me back? Even though I know that I should go back, there isn't any reason to. Everyone is d… gone. If I go back I'll…be…all alone.' That decided it for Sasuke. He couldn't go back. Not ever. Sasuke shrugged. Lying wasn't so hard, all he had to do was not say anything. The man looked at him oddly.

"So, what happened to you?"

Another shrug.

"Well then, what's your family name?" Sasuke hesitated this time, but still shrugged.

"Alright, so…where are you headed?" Sasuke actually looked at him this time.

"I don't know." He said quietly.

"Uh, okay. So you can't remember anything?"

Sasuke nodded.

"Well then…" The man sighed and seemed to force out the next few words. "Why don't you come with me for a little while? We can stop by the village doctor and get your wounds inspected and see if anyone recognizes you."

Sasuke just stared at him.

"But," The man looked uncomfortable, "I can't keep you around."

He winced at how that made the kid sound like an animal.

"I just mean…well…I'm old. I've already had my children and raised them. I don't have the spirit to run after a child and you need proper care. Plus, the travelers' life is not for children." The man finished quickly.

Sasuke just stared at him some more. 'What is he talking about? Did he think I wanted to stay with him? Is something burning?' He kept his face neutral as he nodded in understanding.

"Good. Well…uh…"

"The fish." Akio looked confused for a moment before turning to the fish.

"Fu…ish!" He corrected himself midway remembering the child beside him as he pulled the burning fish out of the fire. He beat at the fish frantically cursing under his breathe, stopping once the fire was out. Then picked up the end of the stick, at the end was a burnt piece of unidentifiable fish.

"Well, let's eat up!" He said enthusiastically. Sasuke raised an eyebrow and stared at the fish.

"Heh-Heh…yeah. Cooking never was my specialty." Akio admitted.

Sasuke nodded.

After dinner they settled down for the night. Akio took back one of the blankets and packed up his supplies so they could start early in the morning. Sasuke watched quietly, which unnerved Akio, but he was just happy the kid was acting properly.

"Good night." Akio laid down and sighed. Sasuke watched him carefully.

"Good night." He answered laying down. After a while Sasukes eyes began to close as the toll of his running returned to his body.

* * *

The atmosphere was peaceful. The air was crisp and clear. The tea on the table in front of him was his mothers' favorite. Sasuke smiled and took a sip of tea and looked around himself. His mother sat to his left. She was drinking the tea too. She looked at him and smiled. He looked to his right where his father sat. He looked strangely peaceful and happy. Sasuke took another sip of tea and started looking across the table. His mother grabbed his hand. She shook her head, then smiled and let him go. He looked back at his drink and continued to enjoy it. Out of the corner of his eye he could see a dark shadow was looming across table, but as he looked to see what it was his father took hold of his hand and shook his head. Sasuke nodded and went back to his tea.

As he looked into the cup he saw his reflection. He looked terrified. Disturbed he set the cup down and looked back at his mother. She was looking at her own glass and avoiding his gaze. He looked at his father who was doing the same. The shadow became more prominent as Sasuke began to feel afraid. He refused to look across the table though and turned back to his cup. He reached to grab the cup and knocked it over in his haste.

As the tea spilt out onto the table it turned red and thick. Sasuke picked up the cup and watched the liquid slowly spread out and begin to cover the table and spill over onto the floor. No one took notice of the liquid as more than what was spilt rushed over the sides of the table. Sasuke went to stand up and look across the room, but both his mother and father grabbed his arms this time. The liquid stopped moving and Sasuke settled back down.

The shadowy area grew larger and the air felt thick and humid. The atmosphere was one of fear and distrust. Sasukes eyes darted back and forth between his parents. Each time he looked at them they smiled peacefully to calm him down, but he knew that something was wrong. Every time he went to confront the shadows they stopped him. The shadows grew into a darkness that enveloped them all. Soon they were sitting at the table with only a shaft of moonlight to see by. Sasuke was trying to ignore the shivering crawling up and down his spine.

He looked back at his mother to find her missing. He gasped and looked towards his father. He was gone as well. The red liquid was crawling up the walls of the room now and Sasuke felt his eyes being forced to look across the table. He closed his eyes to stop himself from seeing. He sat there with his eyes closed until he had calmed down. Slowly he opened his eyes.

His brothers red eyes bore into his own, pinning him in place.

"Run foolish little brother! Run away with your useless life!" He heard his brothers' voice echoing throughout his head. It repeated again and again becoming more distorted with each loop. He tried to scream as he felt his panic rising, but his voice was missing. Tears began to accumulate as he stared into his brothers' eyes. Then suddenly his brother was gone and he was all alone with the dead bodies of his parents. The feeling of abandonment stung far worse than the words his brother spoke. He found his voice and started to cry.

He wished his brother was here to make it better.

* * *

Sasuke woke up crying. He could only remember flashes of the dream he'd been having. His parents had been alive and smiling. Then they were gone and his brother was there telling him to run away. After that he'd been alone. Sasuke rubbed his eyes and rolled up the blanket he was borrowing. Thankfully the old man was still asleep, so he didn't have to explain why he'd been crying. He walked away a little so he wouldn't wake up the old man and started to stretch and do his morning workout while he waited for the sun to rise. The sun finished burning away the last of the morning mist as Sasuke ended his morning routine. The old man was still sleeping when Sasuke returned, so he set about to make breakfast. He went to the river where Akio had caught yesterdays' dinner and found a tree with edible fruits that he recognized and some berries. After collecting enough for the both of them he made his way back to the road and sat down in front of the fire pit. He ate some of the fruit and waited for Akio to wake up. As he waited he began to think.

'I wonder what's going to happen now. Where am I going to go? What do I do? Will someone try to take me back? If they do, what should I do? I'll be all alone. I wonder if I'll get in trouble. Like a missing-nin. What if I'm dreaming? Maybe I only think it happened, but it didn't.'

Sasuke grabbed his shoulder. 'No. It did happen.'

Right as Sasuke began to think further into his dark thoughts Akio woke up and yawned.

"Oh, morning kid." He said through his yawn. Sasuke nodded in his direction. He rubbed his eyes and started to stretch.

"What cha eaten?" He mumbled sleepily. Sasuke held up a fruit for him to see and took another bite.

"Okay." Akio picked some up out of the pile and started to eat.

"So, there's a village close by. I don't remember the name, there's so many villages you just learn to recognize them by sight, but it's small and it has a good doctor. I'm actually traveling through it to get supplies. I'm planning on making my way out of Fire country, so I'll be passing through a few villages. The first one after I pass the border, will be Suna though. That's where I'm gonna have to drop you off if we can't find your folks. Alright?"

Sasuke nodded apprehensively. He remembered very little about what he'd heard of concerning Suna, but if what he remembered was worth anything, Suna was in the desert. They didn't have any trees and it was hot. He frowned slightly.

"Ha-ha, don't worry. I'm sure someone will recognize you before we get there." Akio assured him as he stood up.

Sasuke followed suit and they started towards the village. They walked for a few hours in silence before Akio started humming a tune to himself. Sasuke ignored him and instead paid attention to the woods, watching out for bandits and other enemies. Akio eventually stopped his humming, but replaced it with whistling. Sasuke again ignored him. They sat quietly during lunch and ate some dried food Akio had in his bag. Then started up again soon after. A few hours before sunset they set up camp and ate dinner. Akio was accustom to the silence and Sasuke didn't want to talk, so the two hardly spoke. They made a great amount of progress the first day and began their trek the next day with similar results. No bandits ambushed them and after a few days with very little conversation the two of them made it to the village Akio had mentioned. The doctor wasn't there the first time they stopped by, so they went to the stalls to buy supplies and get Sasuke some decent clothing since Sasuke was still in his ripped up pajamas. Akio handed him his new clothes and a bag to pack them in.

"Here's your new stuff, get dressed." He said as he headed towards a stall selling traveling gear. Sasuke packed everything except an outfit and went into an ally to quickly dress himself. His arm proved to be a bit of a hassle as he tried to move it around, but eventually he made it work. He stepped out of the ally with a dark brown shirt and darker brown pants. On his back he held a small green bag with the rest of his clothes and on his feet were a normal set of sandals. Sasuke walked up to Akio just as he finished up paying for his dried meats.

"Ah, there you are. I see those clothes fit. Good, I don't think the salesman would have traded them for another size. Heh. Guess we better check back in with the doc, huh?" Akio lead the way through a crowd of consumers and made it to the building where the doctor was. He knocked on the door a few times and stood back waiting for it to open. After a minute a tired looking, old lady opened the door to see who it was.

"Oh! Akio! It's great to see you here! I mean…you're not hurt are you?" She amended.

"Ha-ha, no. Just my friend here seems to have gotten a little scratch. We needed to see if there was anything you could do."

"Hm? And who is this? I thought your children were all grown up? You didn't…"

"What?! No! I found him on the side of the road and thought I could help him out."

"Yeah, I'll believe you, for now." She turned her attention to Sasuke. "Hello young one, I'm Mei, what's your name?"

"Sasuke." He answered as she led them into the building.

"That's a good name. What about your family name?"

"He can't remember anything besides his given name." Akio helped.

"I see. That's too bad." She said as she started.

"Where's this scratch you were worried about?" She asked as she looked at his legs and arms where the bandages were still hiding his wounds. Sasuke pulled off his shirt and she started unwrapping the wound on his shoulder. Once she was done she hissed.

"This needed a doctor days ago." She said as she inspected the pus underneath the skin. Sasuke winced as she poked it lightly. She moved to get a bowl full of a natural medicine, a cloth, and a needle.

"This will probably hurt a little bit, but after I put the medicine on it should start to numb the area, okay? So try not to move." She poked the wound with a needle and began to release the pus. Sasuke jerked, then held still and cringed. She dabbed some of the medicine on and continued to pull out more pus. After nearly an hour Sasukes arm was completely numb. He could barely move it much less feel it. The wound was clean, stitched up, and wrapped up.

"So, Mei, are we all finished?" Akio stepped back into the room. He'd all but ran in his desperate escape when Mei began to stitch Sasukes wound.

"Yes. I just want to take a quick look at the other wounds before you leave." After making sure everything was working properly and nothing else was wrong with Sasuke she let them leave.

"You two should stop for dinner tonight. It's been ages since we've seen each other Akio. I'm sure there's plenty to catch up on." She said smiling. Akio smiled as Sasuke walked ahead and stopped to wait for him.

"I'm sorry Mei. We're spending the rest of today searching for Sasukes' family. Then we're heading out tomorrow." Suddenly he looked at her thoughtfully.

"Hey, maybe you can take him. I'm not sure if we're going to find anyone who knows him. After all that was one nasty wound and I found him with nearly nothing on his back. Chances are he and his family were robbed or attacked." She looked disturbed.

"Do you really think…? Oh, the poor child. That's awful." Akio nodded.

"I know you need some help around here and he's a pretty good kid. I'm sure you'd take good care of him. The only other choice I have is to hand over to a village adoption agency." Mei frowned.

"I'm sorry Akio. I know he needs a good home, but I'm too old to take care of a child." She smiled sadly. "We both are. Just look for his family for a little while. Maybe someone will claim him. If not…" She left it at that.

Akio sighed. Mei was right, he was asking too much for her to try raising a child at her age.

"Yeah, I thought you'd say that. I had to try though. Well, bye. It was great seeing you!" He smiled and caught up with Sasuke.

"Alright! Let's begin our adventure!" Akio grinned as he began walking down the street. Mei stood on her porch watching them leave and waved good-bye to Sasuke as he turned to wave back.


	2. New Beginnings

In the village of Konoha, on sunny days, one would normally think of outdoor activities. A citizen might fantasize about a picnic or frolicking in meadows. If it was hot enough the ninja in training would find themselves conjuring up images in in their minds of swimming in a nearby lake. The heat of a summers' day in Konoha though was absolutely nothing compared to the heat radiating from the desert. As Sasuke and Akio trudged along the path, it took all of Sasukes' effort to not fall over and let the desert heat consume him. Death had to be better than this.

After leaving Mei's village the two travelers had stuck to the road, only stopping for supplies three times. In each village they passed Akio asked around to see if anyone recognized Sasuke or had heard of any accidents involving bandits nearby. Each time he came up empty and by the time they had passed the last village he had only been asking out of sympathy for the kid. Akio knew he'd be leaving Sasuke behind in Suna and couldn't help but cringe at the thought. Sure the kid was quiet and seemed to have nearly no sense of humor, but he was also polite and didn't demand much attention. He only needed some food and water, then he was good to go. Akio shook his head.

'That's why I can't take care of him.' He thought to himself. 'I don't even know what to do for him. Obviously he needs more than that, but I don't have whatever it is that he needs.'

He looked over at the object of his distress. As usual Sasuke was a step behind him, searching the sides of the path for anything that looked strange or threatening. Akio wasn't sure what he thought was going to jump out of the sand, but Sasuke was diligent. He wondered sometimes if maybe Sasuke had come from a ninja family. The way he walked and the amount of attention he used to focus on tasks was unusual for a regular six-ish, seven-ish year old. Akio looked back to the path and focused on ignoring the heat of the sun crashing down on their backs.

* * *

Sasuke could hardly think. The constant fire scorching against his skin consumed his mind. During the evening when the land began to freeze over, he and Akio would huddle in their blankets fighting off the biting cold. During the hours before and after the raging heat, right as the temperatures were changing, Sasuke battled the never ending war against the sand that invaded his clothing and caused him to itch insanely.

'This place is awful.' Sasuke thought dejectedly as he fought the urge to itch. 'I wish I could just go home.'

"Hey, don't look so down!" Akio said as he sat down in front of the fire cooking dinner. "It could be worse."

Sasuke looked at him in disbelief.

"Ha-ha, that's right, it could be dust storm season. Then you'd be breathing in this cra…sand." He amended quickly.

Sasuke stared at him in barely disguised horror. He was going to live the rest of his life in a place that had sand in the air?! How was he supposed to keep it off of him? What about the heat and the cold? Was it always like this?

"So," Akio continued, oblivious to Sasukes' inner dilemma, "we are just a day walk away from Suna. I'm sure you'll be fine here without me though."

He pulled out his blanket and Sasuke pulled out his.

"Well, we better get some sleep. Tomorrow's a big day." Akio soon took his own advice and was fast asleep, snoring loudly, as he pulled the blanket closer around himself.

Sasuke looked over at him for a moment then turned to the fire. After all the traveling they'd done together Sasuke would have been lying if he said he hadn't become used to Akio. He'd known Akio planned to drop him off at Suna, but he found himself wishing Akio would take him along. He laid down and ignored the dread of what awaited him tomorrow. Soon he'd be all alone again in a new village.

* * *

The gates of Suna were huge. As they passed through he noted a pair of guards sitting close by, watching the travelers. Sasuke unconsciously took a step closer to Akio when he saw them. What if they could tell he was from Konoha? He shook the worry from his head. It was pointless to think anyone here would know who he was. After asking around for some time, Akio finally gathered enough information to find where the nearest orphanage was located. He stubbornly refused to look towards Sasuke as they made their way to the street that they'd been directed to. A tall dome shaped building stood in front of them. A lady walked out with a line of differently aged children following her organized by height.

Akio cleared his throat. "Huh…uh…I…" He cleared his throat again. "Well, I guess…this is it."

They both stared at the building and slowly the two of them went inside.

The woman with glasses and brown hair sat at the desk wearing a simple set of clothing meant to keep the sun and wind off her skin and smiled as they came near her.

"Hello," She said warmly. "Can I help you?"

"Yes, I, uh," Akio felt his face growing warm as he tried to explain that he wanted to get rid of a child. The lady seemed to understand without him needing to go much further though.

"Hold on one second." She pulled out some papers and began to write. "So, I'll need to start up a documentation of the child before we accept him. To start, what is the childs' name?" She looked at Akio expectantly.

"Oh, right, uh, Sasuke."

"Family name?"

"We're not sure."

She rose an eyebrow. "What do you mean? Isn't he yours?"

"No! I mean, I found him while I was traveling and he can't remember anything except his name."

She looked at him closely. Nodding she wrote something down on the paper.

"Okay then, we'll take him from here. If you have any questions, just ask and we'll be happy to answer." She walked towards a door leading to a back room and left for a moment. Akio turned to Sasuke.

"Well, I guess this is where we part." He said sadly. Sasuke refused to look at him, instead turning his attention to the rest of the room.

"Look, uh, I'll be sure to stop by if I'm ever passing through, alright?"

Sasuke nodded and Akio began to say something else, but the lady had walked back and the moment was over. She looked at Akio questioningly and walked around the desk. Akio cleared his throat and said his good-byes. After he'd left the lady turned to Sasuke. She smiled kindly.

"I'm sorry about your situation, but I'm sure you'll feel very welcomed here." She said as she walked closer to him.

"My name is Hana, if you follow me I'll show you to the room you'll be staying in for now."

She crossed the room to a set of stairs leading up to the rooms. She walked down a hall and into a room where a set of bunk beds were placed on both sides along the walls.

"On this side of the hallway is the boys area, the other side is the girls. This will be your room and you may discuss with the other boys which bed you get. You can place your bag where ever for now." She said as Sasuke entered. The room was tiny along with the beds there were dressers pressed against the wall next to the door and a desk was placed in front of the small window that over looked the backyard.

Hana began back down the stairs. After setting his things down on the bed closest to the door, he followed her. The walls of the hall were completely blank as Sasuke walked past. Hana made it back down the stairs and turned to the right, going past the office room. In the back was a small kitchen and a table with different sized chairs.

"Breakfast is early in the morning, if you don't get up on time you miss it. Lunch is at noon and dinner is around six. Younger children can ask for a snack once during the day after breakfast. I would guess your age to be around seven so you can still be counted as young, but you're older than many of the kids here so you'll be expected to help with many of the chores. Lights out is at eight for the younger children and at ten for the older kids." She stepped out of a door leading to the backyard where a gate enclosed a small patch of dirt and an old looking tree that stood against the building.

"This is where the youngest children can play in evening while the rest are cleaning up and getting ready for bed. You'll be starting school next week so you have a few days to get in routine before then. Feel free to look around until the others get back." Hana walked back into the building and left Sasuke to settle in.

Sasuke felt surprised. School? What kind of school? What did they teach? Sasuke thought about it while he made his way back to the room he'd been shown. He stood at the door with a sudden hesitation to enter. It was quiet, omitting the distant sounds of village life on the street. Left alone, he was faced with a harsh blast of his new reality. He, Sasuke Uchiha, one of the last of the Uchiha clan, was in a distant village, far from everything he knew, in an orphanage that was unaware of his name, left behind by a stranger he'd started to trust, and about to start a civilian school. While he'd been with Akio, the thoughts of whether or not this was really happening had always been easily ignored as he walked and focused on watching for thieves. Now that he was sitting still he couldn't help but feel shocked into a dreamlike state. He laid on the bed where he'd sat his belongings and fell asleep.

* * *

Kiato was what the adults would call a troublemaker. Before the orphanage had taken him in he'd been one of Sunas' greatest thieves. He could snitch an apple from in front of nearly any merchants' nose and everyone knew to look out for their belongings if he was nearby. He was almost always late for curfew and often times' skipped school. So it was no surprise when seven o'clock rolled around and he was only just making his way back to the orphanage. His short, spiky hair matched the color of the white cloth he used to keep the sun off himself, making it difficult to see. The rest of his clothes looked to be covered in dirt as he dragged his feet to his destination. His blue eyes glared at anyone who dared to look at him. He walked through the door and past the front desk, making his way to the dinning room. There he found the last of the kids finishing up their meals. Sitting down he grabbed himself a small bowl of soup and some bread.

"Where were you?" A younger man with blonde hair stepped into the room holding one of the three year-olds.

"Nowhere." He answered angrily.

The man sighed and went to take the younger children out to play. A brown haired boy around his age came to clean up the table.

"Hey Kiato!" He smiled as he picked up a plate. "What'd you do today?"

Kiato grinned. Ryo was one of his closest friends and only roommate. They had both used to live on the street together before they found themselves here. While Kiato was good at stealing Ryo had been the one to help him by distracting people. Ever since they'd started school though it'd become harder to steal because Ryo refused to skip school. Kiato knew he was just too scared too though, so he tried not to mind.

"Nothing." He answered as he took another bite of his meal.

Ryo looked interested and sat down.

"What do you mean nothing? There's always something."

"Well maybe." Ryo leaned in.

"But I guess you'll never know!" Ryo got back up and rolled his eyes.

"Maybe you should come with me. Then I won't have to tell you." Kiato said as he stood up to help with the table. Ryo ignored him and took the dishes to the sink.

After clean up, the two made their way up to the room they shared. They'd nearly fought tooth and nail for a room together when they found out that they were going to be separated.

"Lights out!" They heard Hana call up the stairs.

Kiato rolled his eyes and opened the door. He quickly walked across the room in the dark to lay on his bed. Ryo walked in and closed the door making it nearly pitch black. Kiato heard him stumble towards his bed and he started to laugh as he heard Ryo run into a desk. Ryo finally found his bed a jumped onto it.

"Ow!" Kiato heard another voice yell out and he jumped out of bed. Ryo cried out in surprise as he fell backwards out of bed. He grabbed at the air looking for something to help him and clutched at something he'd found. A yelp of surprise told him it was alive and he tried to let it go, but it was too late. Whatever it was began to fall with him and a large thump accompanied their fall. He tried to get up, but found himself pinned down by whatever he'd accidentally grabbed. Kiato walked over carefully to see what was going on and tripped up on something in the dark. He landed on what he assumed was Ryo, as it was struggling underneath him. He tried to get off him and found that the task was harder than he'd thought it would be. Suddenly the light flickered on and he yelped covering his eyes.

* * *

Saburo loved children. Really, he did. That's why he took up a part-time job assisting in the orphanage, helping young children find themselves new homes. Sometimes though, some of the children liked to test his patience. Every night, without fail, Kiato would return late with no answers as to where he'd been or why he was late. He thought back to when he'd found them on the street. Ryo was talking to him, asking him about something or another, when he found Kiato snooping through his pockets. He wouldn't have even noticed if he hadn't randomly decided to place his hands in his pockets. After that he'd promised them a good home if they came with him and after some convincing they followed. He knew Kiato was a good kid, but sometimes it was hard to remember when the kid was glaring at you. Saburo placed the three year-old he was holding on the ground to play outside.

After the kids were done playing outside he handed them over to Hana. She smiled at him in thanks and he walked to the room behind the desk to grab his belongings. As he came back out he heard Hana telling the kids it was lights out. He waited for her to come back towards the desk so he could tell her good night. Smiling as he waited he thought about how amazing Hana was. She lived here taking care of the children day and night and she never complained. She had been the one to inspire him to take the job at the orphanage.

He heard a thump upstairs and frowned. The kids should be sleeping, or at least faking. Worried something was wrong he went up the stairs after hearing yells. He stopped in front of Kiato and Ryos' door and paused. He heard more thumping and opened the door. Some yelling could be heard as he turned on the light to find himself confronted with one of the funniest, yet cutest images he'd ever seen.

In a pile on the floor three seven year olds lay strewn across one another. At the bottom of the pile was Ryo trying to push the others off him. In the middle was a new kid Saburo hadn't seen before, who was also trying to sit up. On top of the pile was Kiato covering his eyes and yelling. He couldn't help himself. He started to laugh.

* * *

As Kiato opened his eyes he rolled off of the others and stood up to see what was going on. A kid his age was on the floor trying to stand up while Ryo was pushing him off. He stepped in and pulled the kid off Ryo and helped his friend up. Suddenly he heard laughing and he turned to glare at the offender. Saburo was at the door grinning. He felt his anger die down some and they all turned to look at the new person. Sitting on the bed staring at them was a kid with black hair that stuck up in the back. His eyes were black too and he was looking at them angrily.

"What's going on? Saburo! It's lights' out, what are you doing?" Hana opened the door and looked in. She looked angry for a moment before her eyes found Sasuke. Her eyes widened and she looked mildly surprised.

"Oh! I'm so sorry you guys! This here is Sasuke. He's going to be sharing a room with the two of you. I forgot to tell you when you got back, I'm sorry." She explained.

Saburo smiled. 'So that's what happened.'

Sasuke looked less angry and rubbed his eyes. Ryo grinned, but Kiato looked furious.

"What are you talking about?! We're sharing a room with some freak?" Sasuke stood up and glared at him. Ryo turned to Kiato surprised.

"Excuse me!" Hana stepped fully into the room and towered over him. "This is not up for debate young man! This is an orphanage, if we need to use the room for more children to house comfortably, then that's what we're going to do! And if I ever hear you complain or calling one of the other children names again I'll have you sleeping in the kitchen!"

Hana nearly never raised her voice, especially to a child. So the impact that her lecture had was felt at full force. Shocked Kiato nodded his head dumbly.

"Now, Sasuke," She said lowering her voice. Sasuke stood straighter and looked her in eyes.

"Yes 'am?"

"I want you to take the top bunk for now. If you want to change it then you can talk with your roommates tomorrow. Now everyone lay down."

Sasuke nodded and took his things up to the top with him. The other two went to their normal beds and laid down.

After making sure they were situated, the two adults turned off the lights and closed the door. The room stayed silent and soon both Kiato and Ryo were asleep. It took much longer for Sasuke to finally find unconsciousness.

* * *

After he'd been rudely woken up and, sort of, met his new roommates, Sasuke could honestly say that this was the start to an awful beginning. Already he disliked one the boys he was sharing with, though maybe if he ignored him he'd leave him alone. Seeing how Hana had reprimanded the kid, Sasuke resolved never to retaliate to anything the kid…no anyone…did to him. If that was how she reacted to calling names, he shivered to think of what she'd do if he physically harmed anyone.

'I wonder how I'm supposed to get stronger as a ninja if I can't go to an academy.' Sasuke thought mournfully. He didn't want grow weak. He'd always been taught that you should strive for perfection. To strengthen yourself and to never show weaknesses. He had to practice, even if he didn't have a teacher.

'I wonder if there's a library I can use. They might have something like instructions.' With that in mind he felt the darkness of the night fill his mind.

As it turned out there was a library nearby. In fact, it was just down the street. The children went to it once a week, but since Sasuke was going to school he could stop by it before or after as he walked by. In the morning, before the sun had fully risen, he had gotten up before the other kids and gone down stairs. Hana was in the kitchen already, making breakfast when he'd come up to ask her about the library. He helped her set the table and when she was done she let him grab a treat out of the pantry before she locked it up.

Sasuke sat at the table and looked to Hana for permission to eat. She sat down with him and they quickly ate in silence. Some of the other children came down as the smell of food awoke them.

"Good morning!" Hana said as more children got up. "Sasuke, would you mind getting the younger children up? They sleep right down the hall from your room. After you finish you're free to explore the street a little while."

Sasuke nodded and proceeded to do as she had asked. Climbing the stairs, he passed his room and headed to the end of the hallway. Walking as quietly as he could, he opened the door to a room full of three year-olds. Watching them sleep, he hesitated before entering. The rooms for the younger children were slightly larger than his and had regular beds instead of bunks. He guessed it was so they didn't fall off. There weren't any desks and there were a few stuffed toys lying on the floor. Stepping over a teddy bear, Sasuke made his way to the closest bed and shook the shoulder of a sleeping brunette. The little girl woke up slowly and stared at Sasuke in confusion.

"It's time for breakfast." He said quietly. Her eyes widened and she got up completely. Running across the room she helped Sasuke wake up the rest of the kids. Once all of the younger children were awake they filed into a line behind Sasuke. He stared at them all, wondering what it was they were doing, before leading them to the table.

"Thank you!" Hana smiled. Sasuke nodded and walked out of the front door, ready to inspect the new area he lived in.

* * *

One major difference between here and Konoha was the insufferable sand that seemed to endlessly irritate him. It covered everything. Sasuke itched his arms for the hundredth time since coming outside. Another notable difference was the architecture. Konohas' buildings were square and tall, while Sunas' buildings were very round. Sasuke looked at them, wondering why anyone would build round buildings, it didn't make sense to him. After some searching, all of the buildings and streets looked the same to him, he found himself in the library Hana had told him about.

Inside was cool and full of shelves lined with books and scrolls ready to be read. As Sasuke walked further into the world of information, an old man with grey hair and a white beard appeared before him. Sasuke jumped back in surprise and stared at the man. A croaky voice spoke up from beneath the beard.

"So, who and what are you? And what is it you wish to attain from my collection?" He peered at Sasuke waiting for an answer.

'What? What am I? Is this man insane?' Very little of Sasukes' confusion was visible as he answered the man.

"Sasuke, human, information." He said in quick succession. The mans' reply confirmed the state of his sanity.

"Are you really?! Hmm?" He searched Sasuke looking for any signs of deceit. He finally relented. "Well than, Sasuke the human, what kind of information are you looking for?" Sweeping his arm out in front of himself as he turned away he said, "I have all kinds of things!" He started to rant about the various things you could learn from his library as he showed Sasuke around the large building.

* * *

After nearly an hour Sasuke was just about ready to gauge his ears out. How this man could continue to talk for this long was beyond his understanding. He just wanted to find the scrolls and books on ninja training techniques and go, which, out of all the random things the lunatic had told him he'd learn from his library, was apparently not here. Just as Sasuke was about to give up and go back to the orphanage, the man stopped and began to pull a few scrolls off a shelf.

"Now here is my personal favorite corner of my collection. This is where the ninjutsu scrolls and chakra description books are located. As you can see, I have a very large variety to look through. It'd take years to read it all and to understand it, but I'm sure you're not interested in this." He said slyly.

How that man had known Sasuke was after this, Sasuke would never know, nor would he care. After the feelings of exasperation died down and the man stopped laughing, he began searching for beginner level work books. The scrolls were full of ninjutsu far above his level, but he hoped to get to them soon.

The lunatic pointed out a few good books for him and checked them out.

"Hope to see you soon!" The man called as Sasuke bolted out the door. After having seen the time, he realized he only had an hour to find his way back to his temporary home. Running as fast as he could he ran into something and crashed back into the sand. Although the sand cushioned his fall, he'd of rather had the bruises than the itching from the onslaught of sand that assaulted his clothing.

He stood and began picking up his books and looked around to see what he'd run into. A boy around his age stared back at him with green pupil less eyes. His short red hair stood up on all ends and his face lacked any eyebrows. With the strange boy was a young man with light sandy blonde hair and a bag of groceries. The boy looked at Sasuke apprehensively as the man walked closer to him.

"Hello there, are you alright?" The man asked kindly.

Sasuke nodded then apologized for running into them. The man looked surprised by Sasukes apology.

"Oh? It's okay, where are you headed?"

"The orphanage." He said pointing down the road.

"I see." The man nodded and smiled. "Well, my name's Yashamaru and this is my nephew Gaara." Gaara looked at his uncle oddly and took a step behind him.

Sasuke nodded to them and told them his name.

"It's nice to meet you! Well, we don't want to take up any more of your time, good-bye." Gaara gave a half-hearted wave and Sasuke nodded in response.

'I hope I'm not late for lunch.' Sasuke thought to himself as he slid through the front door, not even thinking twice of his encounter with the strange red-haired boy and his uncle.


	3. First Friends

It had been two weeks since the day Sasuke first arrived at the orphanage. By now he had found himself falling into a comfortable routine. In the morning he would rise before the sun and sneak out the window to a nearby park and do some light training. He returned before any of the other children woke up and got himself ready for the day.

Once he got downstairs he would assist Hana with breakfast and eat quickly so he could wake up the younger children. He wasn't sure why, but he found himself enjoying this particular chore. All of the younger children had started calling him nii-san and shadowing his steps while he was in the building with them. After making sure they were ready and downstairs, Sasuke started his walk to school early so he could stop by the library and plan out what he should study next. Unfortunately, the moment he stepped in the doors the crazy librarian would stalk him and start to give him long tedious lectures about subjects that held no importance to Sasuke. Once the man made his appearance, Sasuke made his way back out to the street to finish his trek to school, reading all the way.

At school, Sasuke was taught the various subjects adults believed their children should know to grow up and become hardworking civilians. Each of the classes taught one of those subjects including the ability to build objects for multiple purposes, reading and writing, mathematics, and safety concerning everything from what to do if you find yourself lost while traveling to what to do if the village is attacked.

Since Sasuke was already years ahead of his peers due to his early academic start, he normally would ignore the teachers and instead pass the time reading the books he used for his studies to become a shinobi. Sadly, he found himself needing to stop to build objects for one class and the teacher in safety had banned him from reading in the classroom. Even though he was far ahead of everyone, the school didn't look into his intelligence because he lacked parents, instead they kept him in the classes he wasn't learning anything from and ignored his above average grades.

After school, Sasuke ran back to the orphanage to put his things away and let one of the caretakers know he was going to the park. Once he got there, he began his training until the sun started to dip in the sky. He got back in time for a small dinner and went upstairs, making sure he waited until after his roommates had gone to bed.

* * *

It wasn't until the third week, when his schedule was broken, that Sasuke was forced to finally face the rest of the orphanage. A large wind storm had blown in and school was canceled. Sasuke wouldn't have minded so much except, he was done with the book he was on and the adults wouldn't let him go to exchange it.

Sitting in his room, he stared at the window with a slight shadow of horror and disgust. Outside, so much sand filled the air that it looked as though night had come early. The window panes shook as the ferocious wind tore past and Sasuke cautiously removed himself from the room. Standing in the hallway, he considered staying here until the storm was over. The thought was quickly dismissed after being trampled on multiple times. He stood up to go downstairs, but hesitated knowing that the rest of the orphanage was down there having fun.

'If I go down there, someone's going to bother me. Why did this stupid sand have to come?!' Sasuke thought irritated. As a quiet person by nature, Sasuke usually tended to avoid people. Since the massacre, this fact had been doubly so.

He stopped at the bottom of the stairs and began to go back to his room, when suddenly he heard giggling. Turning around to see what was going on, he found a small group of kids holding a plate full of cookies running into a closet. Saburo ran around the corner after a second and looked at Sasuke.

"Sasuke! Have you seen a couple of thieves pass by? It's some of the younger ones, they stole the cookies I was saving for later!" Sasuke didn't even look at the closet.

"No." He responded with a carefully neutral expression. It wasn't perfect though, and if you looked close you'd notice the gleam in his eyes and the twitching in the corners of his mouth. Saburo didn't notice of course and ran past Sasuke towards the dining room.

"Nii-san!" One of the kids poked their head out of the closet. "Shhh!" He waved a little hand in a motion to come over. Tossing aside all thoughts of returning to his room, he made his way over to the closet.

"Hn?" He turned to make sure no one was coming.

"Get in!" The littler kids pulled Sasuke in with them. It was very cramped and dark, and it smelled of sugary cookies.

"Want some?" Sasuke accepted and sat on the floor with the others.

"Did ya see how he was running after us? Ha-ha! I thought he was gonna get us!"

"Shhh! He'll hear you!" One of the kids whispered frantically.

"Tch, I'm not afraid of him!" He whispered eagerly. Footsteps could be heard in the hallway. Both kids became still as the steps neared the closet. Sasuke felt his adrenaline start to pump through his body, when suddenly the handle started shaking. Sasuke did the first thing that came to mind. He grabbed the door knob and signaled to the kids to stay quiet. The children looked scared, but also exited. Their big brother would save them. The door handle shook more aggressively and then stopped. Some muttering could be heard and then the person stepped away.

Sasuke waved to the kids to follow him as he stepped out of the closet. The kids grinned and complied. Sasuke walked so quietly, that to the children, it seemed as though he were a shadow. They tried to copy him the best they could as they followed him into the front room where the reception desk was sitting. In the room most of the orphanage was seated and listening to Hana tell a story. The kids with Sasuke forgot their mission and pulled Sasuke over to the circle. There, Sasuke was forced to sit with the children leaning against him. One even pull herself into his lap.

* * *

Kiato was in a foul mood. First, the sand storm had ruined a perfect day to skip school and snitch some goods from the merchants. Then the cookies he'd planned on grabbing from the kitchen were gone when he got there. So, he tried to grab something out of the pantry since it was unlocked, but then he heard Saburo coming back into the room so he jumped out and darted for the closet. The closet was locked though and he cursed with words that would have had Hana washing his mouth out with soap. Hearing Saburo pass him and go into the kitchen, he made his way upstairs.

Once he made it to his room, he felt his aggravation intensify. There was nowhere for him to go and nothing for him to do. He looked up at the bed above Ryos. Shrugging he decided to look through the new guys things. Sas-oo-whatever-his-name-was always kept his things in his bag on top of his bed. So, Kiato climbed the ladder and began to open the bag up. He felt a certain amount of excitement pulse through him as the bag came undone. He almost never saw the other kid and when he did see him the he ignored Kiato. Now he could get some pay back.

What he found disappointed him. Just a few shirts and some pants, absolutely nothing else took up the space of the little bag. He put the bag down and started to climb out. A thump on the floor caused Kiato to jump a step away from the floor. He got all the way down and inspected the room. On the floor besides Ryos' bed, a book laid spread out having fallen off the top bunk.

Kiato grinned and picked it up. After a few sentences, he was completely lost.

'What in heck is chakra? What paths is this thing talking about? Is this thing stupid?' Kiato threw the book back onto the bed and went back to his own more dejected than before.

* * *

Ryo was a nice kid naturally. Sure the street life had been hard, but he'd made it out okay and now he was here at the orphanage waiting for the right family to come find him. Thanks to Saburo, he and Kiato didn't have to steal, or lie, or go hungry any more. Now they could live without fear.

'Well, maybe not without fear.' Ryo thought as Hanas' tale of terror caused several children to scream and hide behind the older kids. He shuddered at the part where the sand monster pulled the travelers under, never to be seen again.

A group of kids arrived and sat beside him. He recognized the oldest of the group as his roommate, Sasuke. He gave a little wave, but noticed he was busy trying to sit with the kids smothering him. He pulled some off him and laughed as a few tried to climb on his shoulders. Sasuke looked slightly relieved and nodded at him in appreciation. Ryo smiled back and turned to the story.

* * *

After the story was over, Hana told them she needed to start on dinner and left them to entertain themselves. Many of the littler kids were napping and Saburo picked up the ones off of Sasuke and Ryos' laps. The two boys went into the dining room and sat down bored.

"So…" Ryo started.

"Hn?"

"Uh…I don't know." Ryo grinned sheepishly. "How about…um…where are you from?"

Sasuke shrugged his shoulders.

"Oh, me too. I mean I don't know where I was born or anything. Uh, so what games do you like to play?"

Sasuke looked confused for a moment before shrugging again.

"So, what do you play?"

"Um, nothing?" Sasuke answered uncertainly.

"Well then, why don't you come play with me and Kiato and a few other kids after school? We're going to a park to play some sand ball over by the village walls."

Sasuke looked like he was going to refuse for a second before nodding.

"Cool! We always need a new player on my team, 'cause Kiato's really good and his team always wins."

Hana poked her head in the door.

"Hey you two, could you help me set up the table real quick?" They both nodded and set to work while Hana brought out the food.

"Thanks you two! If one of you could tell Saburo to get the kids up from their naps that would be awesome." Sasuke walked away to do as she asked and Ryo sat down to wait for the others.

After dinner and clean up everyone went to bed, even the older kids went to their rooms. Everyone was tired from keeping up with the littler ones and ready for tomorrow when they could go back to school.

Sasuke climbed into bed and found his things messed with. Making sure nothing was missing, he put it back where it went and laid down.

* * *

Sasuke got up in the morning before the sun as usual, this time though he went downstairs and did some stretches and push-ups in the front room instead of the park. When Hana saw him awake and sitting at the table she jumped.

"Sasuke! You startled me. Heh. What are you doing up?"

Sasuke shrugged not knowing how to respond.

"Okay, well I don't really need to make breakfast yet." She seemed to be talking more to herself. Looking at Sasuke she paused.

"Alright Sasuke. When was the last time you got a haircut?" Sasuke blinked.

"Um…?" She smiled.

"Good! Now sit down, I'm going to go get some supplies!"

'Supplies? For what?! She's cutting my hair?!' Sasuke briefly debated about hiding in the closet.

Hana came back with a towel, scissors, a brush, a bowl of water, and some hair bands. Sasuke sat down on the chair and let her cut his hair. After a few minutes Sasuke felt tugging at his hair.

"Sorry, just trying to brush it down a little. Didn't mean to tug." She flicked some water onto his hair and began again. He almost nodded in understanding, but stopped and gave her a verbal cue. As she continued to brush and cut, Sasuke was painfully reminded of his mother. Every morning she used to help him brush his hair, but now she wasn…

"Ow!"

"Whoops! Sorry!"

When she was finally done nearly an hour later, Sasuke went to the mirror to see what it looked like. She hadn't really cut too much off, but she did tie his hair into a small ponytail in the back. It stuck out, trying to get free of the band, so it didn't lay down on his neck annoyingly. His bangs were still the same, so he didn't think it made him look that different. He put a hand to the back of his head and pulled on the ponytail a little. It made him think about how Itachi used to wear his hair. Frowning, he nearly pulled it completely out.

"So, you helping me make breakfast this morning?" Hana called out to him. He looked away from the mirror and went to help, forgetting all about his previous thoughts.

* * *

At the end of school Sasuke was stopped by Ryo and some of his friends, reminding him he'd promised to play ball on their team. Sasuke felt suddenly intimidated by the idea of playing with them.

'What if I can't play? I don't know the game, what if I mess up?' Sasuke felt the dread of letting them down and making himself look stupid increase as he let Hana know he was going to play with Ryo and Kiato.

"Alright, just make it back before dinner!" She called out unaware of his dilemma. He dragged his feet quickly to the park and almost turned around twice. Back in Konoha, no one ever wanted to play with him from school and most of his cousins were busy, like him, with training.

"Hey! There you are! I thought maybe you forgot." Ryo waved to him as he walked up.

"Or maybe you just chickened out?" Kiato grinned.

"Yeah right, Kiato! We're totally going to beat you guys today!" A kid from the back spoke up and a small argument started up. They headed towards a small section of the playground where a small cliff shaded the area. A swing set stood to the side and a goal was positioned in front of the cliff wall.

"So, you just have to get the ball into the goal and the other team has to try and stop us. That's it. Oh, wait! You also can't touch the ball with your hands, okay? Let's go!" Ryo started the game.

At first Sasuke stood off to the side waiting to see how he should act. Suddenly, the ball rolled up to him and he kicked it at the goal. Hard.

It shot so fast into the goal the kid guarding didn't even know it was there for a moment. Everyone turned and looked at Sasuke.

"How'd you do that?!" A kid asked.

"Um…"

"Wow! That's so cool!" More voices joined and the game restarted. As it turned out, all of Sasukes' ninja training had completely prepared him to play games like this. Once he had the ball, nothing could keep it from going in. At least, nothing the kids on Kiatos' team worked against him.

By the time everyone had decided to go home, Kiato was fuming. The rest of his team had taken the losses well, they laughed about it and tried harder, but Kiato had been the best! There was no reason he shouldn't have been able to stop him at least once!

Ryo was chatting with Sasuke like they were already best friends and something in Kiato began to hate Sasuke.

* * *

After the first day Sasuke thought the other kids wouldn't have wanted him to come back. Ryo proved him wrong when he dragged him back to play another game of ball with the kids. Kiato had stayed behind.

Although it was nice to hang out with the kids, Sasuke felt uncomfortable with all of them. It wasn't really anything they did, but he preferred to be alone, or maybe with just a few people. Besides, playing with all these kids made him feel like he had to be a different person. If he didn't smile with the others, they would look at him funny, or if he didn't want to play they'd talk him into it. He felt like a shadow, like they were living their perfect lives and being happy, but he just couldn't. So, he found himself making excuses and hiding away from them. Sometimes though, it was nice to pretend he was normal every once in a while.

* * *

It had been nearly a week since the last time he'd gone to play with the other kids. In that time Sasuke had worked on perfecting his aim and strengthening his muscles. In this sand, all of his work outs at home seemed to be ten times as hard. He stretched his arm and walked into the orphanage.

"Hey! Where've you been?" Ryo called out. Sasuke set his things down and shrugged.

"Let's go!" He pulled a reluctant Sasuke along to the playground where the rest of the kids were waiting for them. Kiato stepped forwards angrily.

"What's he doing here?" Ryo looked upset.

"He's playing on my team." Some of the other kids started playing ball and they joined in. Kiato began playing dirty against Sasuke. Once even going so far as to try and kick Sasuke, but even if he'd wanted to he couldn't have hurt Sasuke.

Finally, Kiato managed to trip Sasuke up and he kicked the ball too high, making it land on top of the cliff.

"Great! Now look what you did!" Kiato said, pushing the blame towards Sasuke. Sasuke was beginning to feel irritated with confusion as to why Kiato was acting like this. He almost punched the lights out of him, before turning to climb the cliff and get the ball back.

In front of him was a new kid with rings around his eyes and red hair. The face struck a chord in him. He felt like they'd met before, but he wasn't sure where. In his hands was the ball he'd been about to grab and sand was slipping through his fingers. A small nervous smile was on his face as he held out the ball to Sasuke.

"Here." He said quietly. Suddenly, the kids behind Sasuke yelled and began to run.

"Run! It's the monster!" Kiato yelled out in fear. Sasuke looked at them startled by their actions.

'What are they talking about? What monster? Why are they running?'

"Wait! I just wanted to…" A wave of sand rose from the ground and tripped a few of the kids running away. They screamed and tried to get back up.

"Wait!" Sasuke turned to look at the kid from before and took a few steps back. The kid had his hands out trying to give them the ball back. The sand moved in front of him and Sasuke fell over as he backed away startled. A man jumped in front of the kid and said something to him. The sand stopped moving and the other kids fled.

"It's okay." He heard a familiar voice say quietly. He couldn't place where he'd heard it before, but he was sure it was connected to the kid. He stood up slowly and dusted the sand off his clothes. Now that the sand had stopped moving it wasn't so disconcerting and he could think properly. He looked at the kid who was staring at the ball in his hands, looking like he was about to cry.

"Um? Can I have our ball back?" He asked awkwardly. The kid and the man looked at him. The awkwardness became worse.

"Here." The kid held the ball out, like he didn't believe Sasuke was really going to take it. Sasuke picked it up out of his hands and turned to where his 'friends' had run off. He felt a little stupid now. Now that they were gone, who was supposed to play with? He probably should've left the ball with the kid.

He tossed it up and down for a second and went to practice by himself, since he had the ball anyway. The kid was still staring at him as he turned towards the goal. He'd kind of thought the kid had gone away with his…uncle?

"Wait! I know you!" The kid visibly shrank from Sasuke.

"What?!" He cried out in alarm.

"Gaara, right? I ran into you and your uncle earlier."

Gaara looked baffled. Yashamaru looked at Sasuke.

"Oh! Right, I remember you too, Sasuke?" Yashamaru said happily.

Sasuke looked at him and nodded. Now that he'd remembered them and introductions were over, Sasuke felt the awkwardness coming back.

"Um…so do you want to play ball?" Gaara actually looked shocked and turned to his uncle.

"It's alright, go ahead!" Yashamaru smiled.

"O…okay." Gaara walked closer to the goal with Sasuke.

"So, all you have to do is try to get the ball in past the goalie. Um…which do you want to be?"

"Which what?" Gaara asked confused.

"Do you want to be goalie or do you want to kick the ball in. We'll change sides when one of us gets it in."

"Um…I guess…the one that kicks?"

"Okay." Sasuke handed Gaara the ball and went to the goal. Yashamaru looked like he couldn't stop grinning.

"Go Gaara!" He cheered at the sidelines. Gaara kicked the ball, but it rolled slowly to Sasuke and almost stopped before Sasuke kicked it back towards him.

"Try kicking it harder!" Gaara bit his lip and kicked it harder. Sasuke stopped it and kicked it back to him. This time Gaara smiled a little and kicked it a lot harder. Sasuke, not expecting the sudden speed of the ball, missed.

"Oh, sorry!" Gaara said quietly looking worried. Sasuke looked surprised and kicked the ball out while he walked.

"Okay, your turn."

"Yeah, good job Gaara!" Yashamaru called out. Sasuke immediately kicked the ball at the goal, out of Gaaras' reach. Gaara reached out for it and a bit of sand rose, knocking it away. Gaara looked scared and turned to see Sasukes' reaction. He looked a little irked that the ball didn't go in and turned to look at Gaara.

"How did you do that?" He asked curious.

"I…I…"

"It's just a talent." Yashamaru said nicely, saving Gaara from explaining for the moment.

"Oh." Sasuke went to get the ball. This time he kicked it as hard as he could and ran close to the goal. Gaara leaned to get the ball, but just as his sand came up to get the ball, Sasuke appeared and kicked the ball at a different angle making it shoot over Gaaras' head and in the goal. Gaara looked stunned and Yashamaru looked equally as surprised, though for different reasons. Although the kid wasn't as fast as more experienced ninja, he definitely held talent and training.

Sasuke cheered for himself internally, unaware of his company's thoughts. He stepped back to the goal and switched with Gaara, preparing himself for the game to start.

* * *

Yashamaru was filled to the brim with happiness. He tried not to get his hopes up too much, after all someone could still pull Sasuke away and tell him to steer clear of Gaara, but he couldn't help some of the thoughts that raced through his head.

'Finally! Finally there was someone else! Someone who wasn't running away from his nephew, and it was a child. How shameful the adults acted, fearing what a child could see was just a little boy in need of a friend. Now, if only he could show the Kazekage, that Gaara was a child and not a weapon.' Yashamaru shook his head. 'No, that's getting ahead of myself. He will never see his son as anything but the weapon he created him as. Even so, I'm glad that Gaara has found someone who's reaching back. It's painful to watch as his attempts are rejected.' He cheered some more for Gaara as he made another goal and leaned back on the cliff wall to watch them play.

* * *

Soon the sun began to set and Sasuke knew he needed to get going.

"Bye." He waved to Gaara as he picked up the ball to leave.

"Wait!" Sasuke looked surprised. "I was wondering…if maybe we could…play again?" Gaara struggled to ask, fearing the answer. Yashamaru held back, listening for Sasuke.

"Sure, I guess?" Sasuke answered, confused by the question.

"Okay, then…good bye!" Gaara smiled nervously and waved back.

"Good bye, Sasuke!" Yashamaru called out. "See you again!"

Sasuke nodded and waved again.

* * *

On the way home Sasuke found that he wasn't even feeling mentally drained like when he played with the other kids. He hadn't had to physically hold back for Gaara and the kid seemed just as unaware of how to respond emotionally to things as he did.

He wasn't really thinking of it in those words, but he did feel the happiness of finding someone similar that he could relate to. He couldn't wait until he could play with him again.

As he walked in the doors he explained to Hana that he was slightly late because he'd lost track of the time. After a brief scolding, she let him get some dinner and had him help with the dishes.

Once he was done with the dishes, he went upstairs to go to bed. Ryo and Kiato were sitting on their beds.

"Sasuke?" Ryo cried out. "We thought you were dead!" Kiato looked guilty and stood up.

"We're sorry we left you and I'm sorry I was acting like a jerk. I was just being stupid." Ryo nodded his head.

"Yeah!"

"Wait, what are you talking about?" They looked surprised.

"Don't you know who that was?!" Ryo asked. "That was the monster! He terri…terri…scares lots of people." He finished lamely.

Sasuke shrugged, then started to get on his bed.

"What do you mean? You didn't know?" Kiato asked.

"Nope." He responded.

"What! Didn't you see him? He attacked us! How you not know he was a monster?" Kiato exclaimed.

Sasuke didn't respond. Gaara had attacked them, but Sasuke wasn't sure if he'd meant to.

"Whatever." Kiato said. Ryo turned off the light and tripped into bed. Then there was silence and eventually all three of them fell asleep.

**Hello,**

** I thought I should let my readers know that I won't always be able to update as fast as I am right now. Also, I wanted to thank Maximoffs forever for being the first to review on both versions of this story. The other is much worse than this one though and I wouldn't advise looking for it to read. So, thank you MF and thank you silent readers as well. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, **

**Salutations,**

_Anonymous_

* * *

**To the guest and alyah, who reviewed earlier I'm sorry. I didn't see your reviews because I never moderate the reviews. I found your reviews later after I posted this chapter so your approval was left unaccounted for. None the less, I do appreciate the motivation and thanks your reviews gave and I don't feel that you were in any way bashing. I didn't delete the comments though, so they did finally appear a few days after you posted because you posted as guests. I would have sent this message to you directly if I knew the names to PM, but since I can't I hope this message makes it to you. Again, I'm sorry. **

_Anonymous_


	4. Stagnation

'This is getting difficult.' Sasuke thought to himself. After five months of training in the sand he was ready to up his training. Sweat rolled down his forehead and he crouched further into the cabinet he was in. He pulled at his ponytail, then set his hand down.

'The problem is, I don't know what to do next.' At this his usually impassive expression was momentarily traded for one of annoyance. More sweat accumulated at the base of his neck and he resisted the urge to wipe it away. Footsteps neared him and he pulled himself further into the darkness and waited. A door creaked to the side of him and a muffled voice was heard.

'If only I could find something in the books. Maybe I should look for chakra control techniques or new tiajutsu to use in my morning training.' His thoughts were cut short as the cabinet door he was behind began to open. He watched it patiently as it slowly allowed light to pass through. It stopped creaking and hung still for a moment before…

"Nii-san! I found Nii-san!" Running could be heard as a group of young children rushed to the source of the voice. Sasuke got out of the dusty cabinet and patted himself off. Taking a quick swipe at his ponytail to make sure it was still in place, he looked down at the little girl who'd found him. She smiled at him and pulled him along to the dining room where the rest of the kids were waiting. He allowed it with a fleeting moment of excitement.

It was childish, he knew it was, but he'd won the game. If he'd wanted to, no one would have ever even found him. Due to his training, he was nearly the best in just about every game the kids came up with. Sometimes he felt like maybe he was cheating, but he never used his full strength. Besides the rest of the kids in the orphanage were beginning to look up to him.

After she'd taken him into the room she let go and ran to Saburo. He picked her up and headed for the stairs.

"Alright you guys, it's time for bed." Hana appeared and began shooing the littler kids up the stairs.

Sasuke made his way to the room he shared with Kiato and Ryo. As he did, he began to think.

His whole life had been turned around. No one forced him to train, he decided when, how, and even if he would. There was no disappointment if he didn't pick up something right away, he could have fun while he practiced. He could be friends with whomever he wanted and play however he wanted. He was still far ahead of his classmates, but no one really cared. He found that he kind of liked building things in class and even received an extra class during recess from the teacher sometimes.

A quick thought passed through his mind.

'What if I just give up being a ninja? I don't have any teachers to help me anyway and no one wants me to.' He'd just lied down as that thought came. After picking himself off the floor from his fall, he scowled at the idea.

'No, I want to! I don't want to become weak like some civilian! I need to get stronger! That way…' He stopped.

Why? A voice spoke up in his mind. Why should I train? What's the point? No one can find me here. No one knows me. No one.

Sasuke made his way back up the bed and pondered the thought.

If he stopped training, no one was going to make him start again, but he wanted to get stronger. There wasn't any reason why he should. He wasn't in a ninja academy, so he couldn't become a Genin or a Chunin or anything else. Thoughts of his brother surfaced and he stopped for a moment. He hesitated to think about anything to do with his brother, but something he said was appearing now.

'Get stronger,' He'd said, 'So that someday you can try to kill me.' Sasukes hand clenched at that.

'Kill him?' His mind was quiet for a while. 'No. I mean…why should I try? What's the point?' He shook his head and turned onto his back to stare at the ceiling.

'I want him gone, but…I don't want to go find him. I don't want anything to do with him.' He knew this was true. Even if he did want his brother to…go away, he didn't want to ever see him again. A breath was released at that and his mind began to drift.

'What if he showed up though? What if he did find me? What would I do?' Sasuke shivered. If he did see him again…he needed to be strong. He nodded at the ceiling. That is why he would train, so that he could defend himself and stop Ita…him from ever hurting anyone again. Happy with his decision and reasoning to why he should train he shoved all thoughts of his family's murderer out of his mind and fell asleep.

* * *

Sasuke finished his training disappointed. As he walked back to the orphanage he thought of how to make his training harder. At first the sand had been difficult, but he needed something new to help him get stronger. He'd already checked the library, even staying and listening through a lecture on various molds and fungus that glows in the moonlight. Still, none of the books helped.

'I could try speeding up.' He supposed. The problem was, he was going fast, but he wasn't getting in enough training in the amount of time he had. With only two hours in the morning and two in the evening, he was barely getting half the hours he used to. Kicking at some sand he glared at the ground, as though it held all the answers to his problems, yet tauntingly held them out of reach.

"Hello." A soft voice spoke near Sasuke as he passed an ally. Almost jumping out of his skin, he calmed himself and looked at Gaara.

"Hn." He waved back and headed towards him. After the first day that they'd played together, Sasuke had kept his word and returned to play. Then, they'd started playing together whenever they saw each other at the playground. It'd been nearly two months, and they'd become somewhat friends.

"What are you doing?" Gaara was always quiet and careful, Sasuke thought, almost as if he was afraid Sasuke was going to run away if he became too loud.

Sasuke shrugged his shoulders. "Nothing."

Gaara looked back at the ground and walked quietly beside him. It always seemed to get so quiet when they were together.

"So, what are you doing?" Sasuke asked, needing to say something.

"Um…" Gaara looked confused. "I'm…nothing, I guess."

Sasuke felt himself start to laugh, but stopped so he wasn't rude. Gaara looked truly upset he couldn't find another answer, even though Sasuke hadn't given a better one.

"Where're you going?" Sasuke asked instead.

"Er…nowhere?" Gaara looked over at Sasuke.

"Aren't you going to go eat breakfast?"

"I have to wait 'til Uncle wakes up."

"Why don't you make it?" Sasuke remembered waking up early so he could surprise his parents with a breakfast he made, or waking up and his mother was gone on a mission so he had to make it for himself. He couldn't understand why someone his age wouldn't just make his own.

"Uh…I don't know." Gaara answered sounding mystified.

"Can you?" Sasuke asked.

"I'm not sure." He said shaking his head. "Can you?"

Sasuke nodded.

"Do…do you…uh…want to come…you know…" He trailed off not sure if he should finish.

"What?" Sasuke asked.

"Do you want to come over?" He asked in a rush.

"You don't have to." He said as soon as he'd asked.

"Sure." Sasuke wondered if he'd be able to get back to the orphanage before anyone noticed he was gone, but decided no one would probably even really care.

Gaara was staring at him before turning abruptly and going down an ally. Sasuke followed and soon they made it to a small building. Gaara opened the door and let Sasuke in. After taking off his shoes, he saw that he seemed to be in a doctors' office. In the back the building turned into a small house. Gaara lead him to where the kitchen was. A small counter with a stove was against the wall and at the end a refrigerator stood humming. An island counter rested in the middle of the kitchen and a small pantry was placed on the other side.

"Uncle's asleep upstairs. He probably can't hear us." Gaara said quieter than usual. Sasuke nodded.

They opened the pantry and stared at the food.

"So…how do we start?"

"I guess, what do you want?" Sasuke answered.

Gaara thought about it, then shrugged.

"Let's just make some rice and eggs then." Sasuke whispered. With a nod from Gaara, he pulled down a bag and put it on the counter.

He opened a drawer to look for the measuring cups in the near dark. Once he'd found them he turned to see Gaara watching him interested.

"Uh, could you get the eggs?" Sasuke asked. Really he just didn't want Gaara to watch over him the entire time.

Gaara nodded and pulled open the fridge. Some milk fell from the door and they both stiffened. Realizing that the sound hadn't brought any unwanted attention, Gaara pulled out the eggs and shut the door.

"Just put them in the pan and stir them." Sasuke said quietly. Gaara nodded and pulled out a pan, accidently knocking over several in the dark.

"Sorry!" He whispered as Sasuke jumped. Sasuke rolled his eyes to himself and picked up a pot that'd landed near him. Pouring in the correct amount he placed it on the stove and turned on the burner. Gaara placed the pan on the stove next to the pot and stirred the eggs with his sand. Sasuke took a step back and slipped on something liquid. With a yelp he fell and grabbed onto something. Gaara turned startled and his sand came up in defense as he began to slip too. Sasuke panicked as small critters started to fall on him. Holding onto the cabinet door he pulled himself up. Smoke began filling his nose as he tried to breathe.

'What?! Where's the smoke?' Metal banging could be heard as Gaara slipped again. Suddenly the light switched on.

* * *

Wake up. Yashamaru fought through the blur to look at his digital clock. Six-thirty seven.

'A couple more minutes couldn't hurt.' He thought sleepily to the voice telling him to get up. He felt a chakra presence in the house, but recognized Gaara and relaxed.

'Glad he's home.' He thought warmly before drifting some more. A couple minutes later he heard the fridge. Something dropped on the floor and Yashamaru turned on his side about to get up, but he stopped as it got quiet.

'Probably just Gaara getting some milk.' He thought sleepily letting himself get pulled back into the bed by his sleepiness. 'I should get up and make breakfast.' His body refused to listen though and he laid on his bed contemplating how long it would take before he finally got up.

A crashing sounded from downstairs and Yashamaru jumped up. Stumbling over some forgotten items on the floor he lurched back onto the bed.

'What the…We better not be getting attacked.' His mind groaned as he sat back up and yawned. Guessing they probably weren't anyway he took his time getting proper clothes on. As he stepped down the stairs he heard a yelp and more crashing. Once he reached the bottom steps he smelt smoke and rushed to the light switch. As the electricity illuminated the scene before him, he was sure he'd fallen back asleep.

On the ground were two guilty looking kids, one of which was Gaara and the other his new friend Sasuke. With them was a set of pans he'd had forever and a bag of rice spilling on Sasukes' head onto the floor. By the fridge, the milk he'd picked up yesterday laid empty, having poured out onto the floor. The stove held a smoking pot and a pan full of…he wasn't sure yet. The pot was pouring smoke and Yashamaru pulled it off, putting it in the sink to rinse as he turned off the stove. As he filled the pot with water he looked at the pan suspiciously and saw to his surprise it was full of eggs. Full eggs. Shell and all, and was that sand? Yashamaru peered closer at the pan. The pot began to overflow and he turned off the water.

"Okay," he started as he took in the damage. "Right, okay." He picked up a towel out of an upper cabinet and set it on the floor in hopes it would soak up the mess. He pulled out two more and gave them to the two kids at his feet. Sasuke immediately began drying himself off and tugged at his ponytail covered in milk. Gaara dried his hair and stood up waiting for his uncle to speak.

Yashamaru picked up the rice bag to stop it from dumping any further, then turned to the boys waiting on him.

"So…what happened?" He asked baffled.

"We were making breakfast." Gaara answered calmly, as though the breakfast hadn't made its way onto the floor.

"Oh." Yashamaru was surprised. Gaara didn't normally try to do anything he wasn't comfortable with. The last time Yashamaru checked, making breakfast wasn't on that list. He turned to Sasuke.

"I was…helping." Sasuke responded to the unasked question. "Gaara brought me."

Yashamaru nodded, pinching his arm behind his back. 'Okay, that hurt. So, not a dream.' Yashamarus' face lit up.

"Well, thank you two!" He said kindly, recognizing an opportunity. "Why don't you guys help me clean up? We'll make breakfast when we're done, okay?" They both nodded and set to work. Once the milk was up and the rice was reasonably up, Yashamaru gave them each a task to complete as he set about making breakfast.

He smiled to himself as he watched Gaara and Sasuke jump into their assignments eagerly.

'They're so young.' The thought brushed through his mind and he turned back to his own assignment. They set the table and ate quietly. Afterwards Sasuke left to go back to the orphanage.

"So, Gaara," Yashamaru started as they cleaned the dishes. "How did Sasuke get here?"

"I saw him this morning and asked him to come over. That's what friends do right?" Gaara looked to him for conformation. At Yashamarus' nod he smiled a little.

It was these smiles that lead Yashamaru to defend his nephew, even against the Kazekage. When Yashamaru had been called for and talked with the Kazekage two months ago, it'd taken everything out of him to not outright refuse the mission to kill the jinchuriki. After a heated debate with his brother in law though, he nearly lost. It was only after a moment, when he'd remembered Sasuke playing with Gaara, that he'd been able to convince the Kazekage that Gaara was changing. He was more in control now that he had a friend and he'd stopped getting too upset when others rejected his attempts to communicate with them.

Shaking his head, Yashamaru smiled and looked at Gaara. There wasn't any need to think about that while he was here with his nephew.

* * *

Sasuke stepped out of the bathroom. Sadly, because he'd been late 'getting up' all the hot water had been used and he was late for breakfast. He grabbed his school bag and ran out the door, skipping his trip to the library and making it to school five minutes early.

"Hey!" Ryo waved over to Sasuke as he sat down.

Ever since Kiato had insulted Gaara, Sasuke had avoided his roommates. Unfortunately, they shared multiple classes and, you know, rooms. Sasuke looked up from his reading. Ryo wasn't actually too bad, Sasuke decided, it was really Kiato he disliked.

"So, you wanna come play after school?"

Sasuke shook his head. He had things to do after school. Like walk around aimlessly looking for an answer to his training dilemma. Ryo looked disappointed, but smiled and went back to his desk as the teacher walked in.

"Now, before we begin, please pull out your homework from yesterday."

Sasuke groaned internally. Today was going to take forever.

* * *

Normally she was calm. Very level headed. Someone who could be looked to in a crisis, should she find herself in one. Today, well today she'd been woken up to water splashing her into consciousness. Today, she'd found all of her clothes dirty and now stank. Today she'd been late getting to the teams meet up, upon which she received a lecture from her sensei while her little snot nosed brother sat to the side smirking. Today…today she was about a hairs breath away from uprooting Gaaras' title as murderous sibling and slaughtering Kankuro into itty-bitty-tiny pieces. Then she'd dump the pieces out onto fire ant hills and watch as they dragged him off to supply the colonies for the next winter.

'Yes,' she decided evilly, 'That's exactly what I'm going to do. Now I just need let Gaara know, then find Kankuro…' As her plan to rid the world of annoying little pranksters by the name of Kankuro unfolded in her mind, she found herself walking quietly among a group of civilians and ninja looking at the wares for sale today. Interested in the garish tents and wondering what she could afford, she placed all earlier thoughts on hold and walked up to see what was for sale.

"Hello little lady!" A merchant selling beautiful fans and small pretty trinkets smiled at her, eager for a sale. She smiled back politely and passed the useless items to find something worth her attention. A darker brown tent, set up a little out of the way, held a man in dark colored clothing with a cloth over his eyes. She walked up quietly and poked around the merchandise. All sorts of interesting things were set up around the tent, from kunai to swords and scrolls on all kinds of things. This was almost certainly a tent set up for ninjas.

"Hey," A gruff voice spoke up from behind her. "Don't touch the merchandise! Not unless you plan to pay for it." The man with the cloth over his eyes sat up as he spoke to the kid behind her. He dropped the needles he'd been holding and apologized sheepishly. She stared at him a moment longer as he pulled at his ponytail and looked through the scrolls without touching them. Shifting her attention to the needles he'd abandoned she searched her pockets to make sure her own money was with her. With a start she found her pockets were empty.

"Excuse me." She nearly jumped thinking she'd been caught. The kid that'd entered earlier was standing in front of the creepy blind salesman trying to catch his attention.

"What?" He asked sitting up.

"Can I work for you?" Both she and the man were quiet. The man cleared his throat and sat straighter in his fold up chair.

"Now why would I let you do that?"

"So you could have help."

'Wow, the kid has guts.' Temari thought, a bubble of respect appearing.

"Oh? And why would I need help?"

"Cause your blind." Temari actually stumbled on something as she tried to process what the kid just said.

'Is he crazy?! Guts! Ha, that kids stupid!' She watched apprehensively as she waited for the man to chop said kid into bits. The silence crawled on.

"Haha!" The man began laughing. "You're lucky I'm feeling benevolent today. Okay, what do you want me to pay you with?"

"This." The kid sat a small thin vest and some arm/leg bands.

"Oh…" He picked up the items and nodded. "Fine. I'm here for a week. You come in at around this time each day and do whatever I ask. Then, if I think you deserve it, they're yours." He put the items in a bag and set them to the side.

"Deal." The kid said. Temari watched shocked. The kid wasn't dead.

'Well…that's good.' She thought as she bumped into a set of swords. The swords crashed and disturbed a display of glass wares. With dread, she watched as a bottle slowly tipped over and crashed onto the ground.

"Hey!" The man stood and directed his attention on her. "You!" She yelped and fell into a defensive stance.

"Are you going to pay for that?" He asked her.

"Um…yes?" She answered nervously.

"Good, cause that cost me a fortune." She swallowed remembering her lack of money.

"If you wait a sec…"

"Oh no! Pay now, I'm not an idiot."

"Well…I…I left my money at home and I just need…"

"You expect me to believe you're going to come back?" He looked skeptical.

"Yes!" She answered frustrated. "How much was it? I'll just go get it!"

He named a price and she paled.

"What! No one would ever pay that much for…for some, stupid bottle!" The man looked angry.

"I don't even have that much money!"

"Is that so? Well then I guess you're just going to have to work off your debt. You can start by cleaning up your mess."

Temari wanted to scream. After cleaning up the mess, she sat beside the kid who'd voluntarily started working for the lunatic.

"So, what are you trying to get?" She decided to start up a conversation.

"Chakra weights."

"Oh?" She said in surprise. It was strange that a civilian child would be trying to buy those and knew what they were.

"Yes."

'Wow, he's quite a talker.' Temari thought blandly.

"Well, my name's Temari. You?"

"Sasuke."

Temari blinked. 'That name sounds very familiar.'

"Have we met before?"

"No."

"Oh…Okay, so, what'd you need chakra weights for anyway?"

"Training."

"Oh? You go to the academy?"

"No."

Temari waited for the explanation. She scowled to the side once she realized there wouldn't be one.

'Now what?' After an hour or two had passed, Temari groaned.

"Hey! I'm not paying you two to chit-chat, get to work."

Temari openly glared at him, and once she remembered his lack of sight it only fueled her anger.

"What would you like us to do?" Sasuke asked politely. Temari clenched her teeth, but waited for a response.

"Uh…clean up I guess. Closing time's soon, so just finish up and go." Temari rolled her eyes and did as she'd been ask. Afterwards she walked as quickly as she could in the direction of her house.

A crashing sound filled the air and screams began to accumulate around a cloud of sand.

* * *

Gaara walked through the ally's. Most people stuck to the main road, so he didn't bother too many people when he used them. He let some sand flow to his hand and he twirled it absentmindedly. He thought of what had happened earlier in the morning. When he'd asked Sasuke if he wanted to come over, he hadn't expected him to actually come.

In fact, Gaara thought happily, Sasuke never did anything he expected him to. He played with him at the playground, talked back to him even though he didn't know what to say, and he never once called Gaara a monster or a demon. He acted like Gaara was normal. Which, was very not normal to Gaara.

Some kids were playing behind the buildings. After watching for a moment, Gaara turned to use a different ally, when suddenly a door slammed open.

Startled, a man looked at Gaara, then glared.

"Demon! Get out of here!" Another tall man stood in his way and blocked the ally he was trying to go through.

"I'm trying to…"

He heard a kid scream behind him. Looking back startled, the man decided it would be appropriate to throw something at him. To protect him, his sand activated and blocked the projectile. The man gasped in surprise, then yelled in fear. Gaara took a few steps backward and felt his sand activate again. Some of the kids had gotten brave and started throwing things at him as well.

"Go away, monster!" Gaara tried going back the way he came, but more people were blocking his path. His sand flew around him agitated by its' masters' fear.

'Don't be afraid, ha ha! Let me see them! Let me take care of them! Let me tear them apart! Ha-ha!' A voice spoke within his mind. He grabbed his head and shook.

'What's going on?! What are they doing? Why isn't everyone just leaving me alone?'

"Just leave me alone!" A wave of sand crashed onto the crowd and their previous shouts turned to screams instantaneously.

The sand flew into the air and created a cloud of protection around him. Then he ran. He didn't know where he was going, but he knew he had to go far.

* * *

"Done! We are done with this Kazekage! How many more people are going to have to die, before we finally realize this plan has failed?" The council waited for the Kazekages' reply. After some silence, they were given their answer.

"He's getting better with his control." He said quietly.

"But! That wasn't control! The villagers are getting fed up with this project as well, we need to protect our people."

"You're right." A collection of relief was released throughout the room. The Kazekage stood, ending all further instructions, and sent for the demon containers caretaker. He knew this mission couldn't be done by any other. This time, he'd wouldn't be suggesting though. It'd have to be a direct order. The Kazekage sighed and resisted the urge to hit his desk, by closing his eyes and waiting instead.

Sometimes, he thought as the door opened for Yashamaru, I hate my job.

* * *

**Hello,**

**Happy Holidays! What ever it is you celebrate, I hope you enjoy it! Also, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, consider it my gift to you readers. :) I hope you enjoyed the little bit of interaction between Temari and Sasuke Raven, I promise there will be more later on. Can't say much more in case I spoil something though. **

**Salutations,**

_Anonymous_


	5. Falling

The morning was cool and shadowy as the sun began to rise marking the start of a new day. Gaara watched as it climbed further out of the horizon and colored the wisps of clouds pink. He felt the tranquil silence of the dawn rest over the land.

The day before, a group of civilians had attacked him unprovoked, but the part that he felt most concerned with was the voice that had spoken as he'd tried to run.

'What was that voice?' He thought back to the incident and shuddered. Something about it scared him, as if it had been pure evil that spoke. He knew that voice hadn't wanted to just harm. It craved destruction, to kill and bathe in the blood of its' prey.

'Was that me?' Gaara wondered in horror. 'Is that why everyone hates me?' Tears began to accumulate.

'I'd never do that! They know that right? Uncle knows, right?' Worry filled his chest and something tightened around his lungs as he struggled with his thoughts.

The sand rose in a desperate attempt to protect its' charge from his thoughts. Gaara looked to it in disgust. This was why no one liked him. Why none of the villagers could stand him. This stupid sand! He hated it! He shot a hand up to force it away from himself and watched in aggravation as it obeyed his command.

'No! I want it to go away! Just go away!' He nearly yelled out in frustration, but stopped instead as the sand twisted beneath him. He calmed down, just like Uncle Yashamaru had taught him. After a while the sand stopped moving and Gaara was left with the silence again. A cool breeze wrapped around his body and he stood up slowly. Wiping his eyes, he headed back towards his house to help Uncle with breakfast.

* * *

Sasuke soundlessly snuck through the window to his bedroom as he returned from his morning training. He checked the others beds to make sure they were asleep, then headed to the bathroom to clean up. So far, since he'd been here, no one had noticed his morning excursions, but he couldn't be too careful. He'd decided he didn't want anyone to know he was a ninja, but he had also decided he still wanted to train. Sadly the two decisions often left him at odds with himself, but he refused to go back on either promise to himself.

He walked out of the bathroom and startled as he passed his room, hearing the quiet disrupted by Ryo groaning and rolling in his sleep.

"No…homework…more…" Sasuke stared trying to decipher the meaning behind those words, but gave up in favor of returning to his usual schedule.

"Morning Sasuke!" Hana startled at seeing him at her side suddenly. She turned back to stirring the pot of breakfast and listened as Sasuke started setting the table. Once he was done she started to fill the bowls at the table. As they sat down to eat Hana readied herself to give Sasuke the news. The first time was always filled with excitement and nervousness, but she was sure he'd be fine.

"So, I need you back here after school. No playgrounds or library visits, alright?" Sasuke looked up from a book he'd started reading.

"What?"

"I need you to hurry back after school." She said again brightly.

"Why?"

"Well, I don't want to get your hopes up, but there's a couple that I've been talking with, and they have asked to meet you in person." She smiled and looked to him for a reaction.

"What?" Sasuke looked confused. Hana studied him a moment in surprise.

"Oh! Sorry, I meant, they are thinking about adopting you! Great right? I didn't want to get your hopes up and all, but they seem rather serious. Plus, you're so adorable! I'm sure they'll just love you." She said sincerely. She eagerly awaited his look of happiness, maybe tinted with nervousness, which all children in the orphanage gained upon hearing this news.

"Okay." She was severely disappointed. She could have told him the sky was blue for all he reacted. Confused by his response she hardly noticed that he'd gone upstairs to wake the younger children. Once she shook herself out of her daze, she picked up their empty bowls and let it slip from her mind.

* * *

Gaara walked through the empty streets aimlessly. He'd gone home to get breakfast, but found Uncle was out of the house. After the yesterdays' mess up, he wasn't so sure he should try making breakfast without Uncles' help, therefore he couldn't get breakfast.

'I wonder where Uncle went.' A noise interrupted his thoughts. Identifying it as human, he darted into an ally to avoid them.

He peeked out to see who it was. Sasuke was walking quickly with a book in front of him and a bag on his back.

Gaara came out of his hiding place quietly. Nervously he tried to say something, but remembering yesterday when the people attacked him for no reason, he watched as Sasuke passed unaware of his presence.

Feeling depleted, he swallowed painfully and started to walk away.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Gaara nearly died of fright and turned to meet his attacker.

Sasuke stood inquisitively watching him as he stood paralyzed.

"Uh…nothing."

"Oh, okay." Gaara felt stupid, wishing he could add more to that comment.

"I've got to get to school." Sasuke said as he turned back to his walk. Gaara found himself walking with Sasuke.

"Do you go to school?" Sasuke asked not looking up from his literature.

"I'm homeschooled right now." Sasuke nodded. Gaara started back up. "So, school any fun?"

Sasuke snorted. "No."

Gaara watched him curiously. "Why not?"

"I don't know, I guess I just know what they're trying to teach me, so it's kind of boring."

"What about the other kids?"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "What about them?"

"I…aren't they…uh…fun?"

Sasuke stopped to consider the question. "No. They're loud and weird. Some are kind of okay, I guess, but I don't play with many of them anyway."

"Oh." Gaara thought about this answer. 'Why would you not play with others if you could?' He knew better than to ask though, something told him it wasn't polite.

"I got a job." Sasuke said in an attempt to start a conversation.

"Why?"

"To get some chakra weights from some blind shinobi guy."

"What are those?"

"They're clothes that take chakra and turn it into weight. I read about them when I was reading about chakra and how ninja use it to do all kinds of things. Did you know your chakra has an element?"

Gaara looked at him in confusion. For one thing, he had next to no idea what Sasuke was talking about, he only understood it was about chakra. Not only that, but this was the most emotion he'd ever heard Sasuke use when talking to him. It was like, while he was talking about this, he forgot his apathy towards everything. The change made Gaara stare at him a little oddly, but Sasuke didn't seem to notice as he began informing him of the different elements.

Once they got to the school Sasuke waved good-bye and left Gaara to his own devices. Walking back to his house, he decided he needed to start reading some more books, because quite honestly, he had no idea what Sasuke had been talking about for the past fifteen minutes.

* * *

Sasuke stepped into class early as usual and sat in his normal seat. The teacher arrived and began setting up for the lesson. Students piled in just as the time for the bell to go off neared.

"Alright, settle down class. Today we will begin by turning in the homework assigned yesterday." Sasuke pulled it out and sat back down. Sighing he opened his book under the table and started reading again. Today was going to be another uneventful day, wasn't it?

By the end of the day, Sasuke was ready to run back to his room in the orphanage and hide under the covers. School had been exhausting. In the 'stranger danger' lesson, the teacher had taken his book and refused to return it until the next day. He'd actually been forced to pay attention the rest of the day or risk a detention for looking out the window: not that out the window was any more interesting.

He paused at the road and felt a sudden indecision enter his body. At first he didn't get why he'd stopped, before realizing he didn't know which way to go. To turn to the orphanage, he would be meeting some strangers who were going to be 'meeting him in person', but he needed to go the other direction to get to the new job he'd started.

'How did I forget to tell Hana-san?' He shook the question out of his mind and tightened his pony-tail. 'Well, which way do I go?' He looked both ways wondering what to do.

'I guess I did tell her I'd be back.' He turned to the orphanage, already missing the only opportunity he'd ever get to attain free chakra weights.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing, kid? You're going to make us late! That crazy bastard will never shut up, come on!" The creepy girl from yesterday grabbed his arm and tugged him behind her towards the tent.

'I guess I can tell them I was kidnapped.' Sasuke decided humorously.

* * *

Temari was angry.

Alright, so she was calmer than she'd been yesterday. Her laundry had been cleaned, a lock was installed on her bedroom door, and Kankuro had ended up running laps today for cursing one too many times, but she was still irritated that she had to come to this 'job'.

She was walking up the street when she saw her 'co-worker' standing on the sidewalk looking lost. She'd grabbed him and nearly ran to the tent with her new 'boss'. Standing inside waiting for orders, she felt her anger dissipate. It wasn't that bad. Sure it was an inconvenience, but she wouldn't have been doing much anyway.

She looked over at the kid. He'd cleaned up an area of scrolls and books, making them dust free and orderly. Now he was quietly reading one of the books, waiting for an order from the 'boss', who was at the moment sleeping. She rolled her eyes and sat down.

'This is boring.' She turned back to the kid. 'What's his name again? Sanu…no wait…Sask…no, hold on…Sasuke…hmm, sounds close.'

"Hey, Sasuke?" She whispered. He looked up and regarded her with disinterest. She waved her hands, beckoning him over. He looked at the 'boss'. Rolling his eyes, which strangely looked cute to Temari, he crawled over quietly.

"Hn?" He watched her warily. She pulled him out of the tent.

"What are you doing?" He asked as soon as they were out.

"Come on! You didn't really expect us to stay there for hours waiting for him to wake up and order us around, did you?" Sasuke looked at her in the way someone observing an insane person would.

She rolled her eyes. "I've got some money on me this time. Why don't we find something to do while he sleeps?"

"What if he wakes up?"

She snorted, "Yeah."

Sasuke still looked doubtful.

"Fine, if you want to stay here, than stay. Just know this is a one-time offer. I'm not coming back if you change your mind."

Sasuke shrugged and followed her as she led him through the stalls.

They stopped to grab some snacks and wandered aimlessly looking through the merchandise.

Temari hadn't really thought much about grabbing Sasuke to go along, just that she didn't want him to squeal her out, and maybe she wasn't heartless. Only someone without a heart would have left the kid behind. Even so, she found it was rather entertaining. He didn't talk too much, but that was fine with her since she didn't really care to listen, and he made a great listener for when she started complaining. He also didn't care about any of the toys or trinkets she thought he'd of been drooling over, instead she found him carefully leafing through scrolls and books, once or twice she caught him looking through weapons.

'He must have been raised in an all ninja family.' She decided. Picking up a set of fans she twisted then around to determine their usefulness. Unimpressed she put them back down and went to grab them some more snacks. Sasuke was waiting for her when she got back and they both silently agreed it was time to get back to their posts.

"Well, that was fun!" She said lazily licking some ice-cream.

Sasuke shrugged and made a noise in agreement behind his own ice-cream cone.

'Aw, he's like a little brother!' She thought as she noticed some ice-cream on his nose. They reached the tent and darted in silently. The man was still snoring and they turned to each other. Suddenly she was laughing with her hand over her mouth in an attempt at quieting herself, and Sasuke was holding back a grin with a smirk to show his amusement.

The 'boss' groaned, "Quiet you two! Get to work, and let me sleep." Sasuke finally let out a small laugh, but covered it with a cough.

"Hai." He answered. Temari was on the ground stifling giggles and crying.

* * *

Hana was furious, and maybe a bit worried, but mostly she was furious. She told Sasuke to be here. He'd even acknowledged her and said he'd be there. She'd sent Ryo out to check and make sure he hadn't forgotten, but he wasn't at the playground or the library, and she had no idea where he could be.

'Maybe he was held up.' Hana disregarded this notion. He was seven-ish, there shouldn't have been anything 'holding him up'. She began wiping the counter to dispel her frustration. After the couple showed up she'd spent an hour trying to keep their interest and assure them that he'd be there soon. They had ended up leaving upset and she wasn't too sure they planned to revisit.

'Maybe he really was worried.' She stopped scrubbing and thought about it. It was possible, he could have hidden it. Now she felt bad, he was probably hiding until he thought the couple was gone so he didn't have to face them. Right as she reached this conclusion Sasuke walked passed her up the stairs.

"Nii-san!" Several of the younger children followed him upstairs and she smiled despite herself. Some of the older kids helped set the table and she served the evening meal. Each of the orphanage residents sat at the table and started the meal. As the children finished up and rose to clean, she called Sasuke over to the hallway.

She turned to look at him as he watched her hesitantly.

"Okay," She started unsure of how to begin, "look. You missed the meeting with the couple you were supposed to meet with today."

Sasukes' eyes widened a bit.

"Don't worry! You're not in trouble, I was just worried about you. I understand that, meeting new people that could end up being your future family can be stressful on a child."

Sasukes' eyebrows scrunched slightly.

"I know, it doesn't seem like it, but this reaction is fairly common in children. It's okay if you feel uncomfortable. If you need to talk about it though, I'm right here, alright?"

Sasuke blinked.

"And so is Saburo, okay? You don't need to hide from us, we'll help you."

Sasukes' eyes narrowed slightly, but traded places with an expression of understanding.

"Yep, that's right. We're right here, don't hesitate to ask us questions, or even just to talk."

"Hai." Sasuke looked like he was suppressing a smile. "Thank you." He said politely. She let him leave to complete his chores.

'Good. I got through to him.' Hana smiled.

* * *

Sasuke bit back a grin. He had nearly forgotten the meeting with his 'future family'. Sure, he hadn't meant to miss it, but it didn't stop him from feeling as though he'd gotten away with something. He felt a little guilty that she had misinterpreted his disappearance, and a little insulted, but he was happy for an excuse to his absence.

A loud rumble shook through the building. Sasuke watched the ceiling as dust fell and he heard another rumble as it shook the building again. A piece of the ceiling fell and Sasuke darted under the table. A loud clattering confirmed to him that the plan was a good one. A few of the kids joined him in his sanctuary.

"Nii-san!" One of the children cried out to him. In all the confusion, Sasuke pulled the child closer and watched the building collapse around them. Sand covered everything and Sasuke found it hard to breath. He heard the others coughing and suddenly his training as a ninja kicked in. A voice began to talk to him.

'First, in a time of panic, stay calm.' Sasuke nodded and took a deep breathe while trying to keep out the sand.

'Second, look for the leader and follow their commands.' Sasuke looked for the adults, but finding none he started to panic.

'If there isn't a leader, stay calm. Find a safe place until someone come to help you.' Sasuke took another deep breathe.

"Everyone calm down." He ordered them. The kids looked at him. Seeing his expression, they calmed down and listened.

"We need to find somewhere safer." He pushed piece of table that had kept them safe off. "Hold hands." The kids linked hands and followed him as he made his way to the street. Civilians stood in crowds looking at the mess in horror. The buildings were destroyed and there were many injured.

'What happened?' Sasuke thought in a strange sense of awe. Ninja came down into the streets.

"Everyone, stay calm. We are currently taking care of the issue. Please refrain from panicking and we will have medic-nin attending to the injured shortly." The ninja vanished and left the people shaking, but they had calmed down.

Sasuke looked to the younger children. "Okay, let's wait over here." He directed them to a small portion of the orphanage that hadn't fallen down. Some of the children were crying.

"Here." A boy with strange markings on his face handed them some blankets. Sasuke took them and gave them to the children.

"Thank you." Sasuke said.

"Yeah, whatever." The boy seemed distracted. Suddenly a voice called out.

"Kankuro! Get over here and help me!" Sasuke recognized Temari, but didn't call out so she could do her job.

"Jeez!" Kankuro glared over at her as he stomped back over.

Sasuke turned his attention back to the children and helped them get under the blankets. He found himself hoping the others were okay.

* * *

Yashamaru watched the sun set. As he sat on top of the building, he thought of the order he was meant to carry out. Sure, he'd fought against it. He'd nearly yelled in frustration while trying to persuade the Kazekage there was no need to do this, but the council had said their part. If the Kazekage didn't do something soon, he'd have a major problem on his hands.

Yashamaru felt sick. All of this was wrong! How could he be asked to kill his nephew?

'No,' Yashamaru felt anger enter his veins, 'no, I wasn't asked. I was ordered.' His hands had begun to tremble with fury when the Kazekage told him this.

By the time he'd been forced to accept the order, he couldn't see straight. His hands were clammy, everything sounded louder than normal, and he felt nauseas as he struggled to not simply break down.

He knew what he had to do. Perhaps it would be better this way. Tears began to surface, but Yashamaru firmly held his mask in place. He'd gotten dressed earlier and avoided Gaara at all costs for the rest of the day. He knew the next time they saw each other…

He couldn't finish that train of thought.

Everything seemed so much more beautiful this evening. He supposed that was due to it being his last.

Yashamaru nodded. No matter what, he couldn't survive this. If he failed to ki…reach his missions objective, than he'd best finish himself off before the Kazekage reached him. If he did, Yashamaru swallowed, if he did manage to…to do it, well, he didn't think he could live with the guilt of harming any of his sisters' children. He knew this was the only way it could be.

Of course, he'd thought of running. He knew Gaara would have come too. They could head towards the border, any border. Then hide. They'd leave and everything would be okay.

Yashamaru shook his head. Even if he did manage to do the impossible by getting out of Suna, then what? What kind of life would that be for Gaara, always looking over his shoulder for enemies? He'd start to hate Suna, maybe even attack it for revenge. Yashamaru couldn't do it, and felt like a coward for admitting it.

He watched the moon. Gathering his strength, he closed off his emotions. After a few minutes his mask was firmly in place. He walked quietly searching for the small silhouette of his target. Jumping from roof to roof he found his objective sitting on the edge of a building three houses away from himself.

He neared the target silently. Watching for a moment, he suddenly pulled out multiple kunai and threw them with deadly speed and accuracy. The sand shield he'd anticipated appeared and blocked his assault. Yashamaru hid as Gaara turned to defend himself. When the sand cleared he darted out and threw more kunai, this time he aimed for the feet. The sand moved to attack him and he pulled himself out of the way. Gaara watched him with a glare.

He faltered for a moment. The sand grabbed his legs.

'Shit.' He thought calmly. Pressure built around his right leg and an audible snap was heard. He contained a scream of pain and pulled on the wires he'd attached to his kunai he'd thrown earlier.

The sand abandoned him and protected Gaara. He managed to roll onto the roof, but still jostled his leg in the process.

"Why can't you leave me alone?!" Suddenly Yashamaru felt a grip on his heart. A crack appeared in his mask as he tried to ignore the voice. He threw more projectiles at his target and tried to get out of the sands reach. Due to his injury though, he'd only moved a few feet before he found himself pushed against a wall. His ribs felt broken and he was sure a lung had been punctured.

Gaara came closer hesitantly. He kept his guard up and Yashamaru took a moment to look at him. He saw a scared seven-year old wondering why this man was trying to kill him.

He choked. Gaara reached forwards and pulled his mask off. The horror in his eyes nearly killed Yashamaru right then.

"Uncle?" A timid voice broke through the haze, and he knew he couldn't do it.

"Uncle, why?" He saw Gaaras' tears. He knew what he was supposed to do. He had been told that if this happened, he was to try and mentally break him, to test him. He opened his mouth, but nothing came.

"The Kazekage ordered you to do this, didn't he?" Yashamaru heard the anger in Gaaras' voice. He couldn't have that. He couldn't let Gaara hate the village, even if it deserved the hate, he couldn't let Gaara become the monster they all feared.

"No." He watched Gaaras' face morph into disbelief. "No, it wasn't…wasn't a mission." He lied.

"What?"

"I…" What? Yashamaru couldn't form a response. He couldn't hurt Gaara like this, but he only had a few minutes before death took him.

"I couldn't stand it."

Gaaras' confusion made it so much worse to continue.

"I couldn't stand" He coughed. "That monster."

'There,' he thought through the cloud enveloping his mind. 'Blame the demon.'

"Inside you…it killed my sister…I can never…never forgive it for that." He felt his time depleting. He grabbed Gaara, knowing he'd be safe with his sand.

"Please…just die." He knew the tears Gaara saw would make this seem more real, he wouldn't know that they were tears of regret.

He opened his jacket and released the bombs. With one last look at his nephews face, he couldn't stop himself.

"I'm sorry." He whispered as the fire engulfed him. The pain consumed his soul and the last image he saw was the face of his beloved nephew, and the eyes of his betrayal.

* * *

Gaara watched in horror as his uncles' body was blown into ash. Even though he knew what his uncle had tried to do, the loss was painful. The tears came before he'd realized he was crying. He ran away from the smell of burning flesh and stopped only when he could go no further. He was hysterical, his mind was in a blind panic. Nothing made sense, everything was a blur. Thoughts came and went and somewhere along the line, he found himself understanding that there was no one left. No one loved him, he was alone. His emotions took a sudden turn. Now he was angry.

'If no one will love me, than why should I care for them?' He thought darkly. He felt the pain of his uncles' betrayal dull.

'I don't need anyone! I don't care about them! I'll love me!' He thought insanely. 'I'll love me and no one else, because no one else loves me!'

He felt the mark almost before he realized he'd created it.

'Love.' He thought hysterically. He started laughing. It turned to crying. Then back to laughing. His mind couldn't decide.

'**I'll help you.**" A voice purred from within him. A dark and twisted power tore through his body, and he found himself seeking it. The pain was intense, but it covered up the pain of his loss. "**Let me help you! Let me shred them! Ha-ha! Let the blood rain! Ha-ha! I'll DESTROY THEM!**" Gaara felt his conscious slip as the hysterical laughter enveloped his mind.

* * *

The Kazekage awaited the results Yashamaru was meant to bring. He knew his brother-in-law didn't agree with the mission, but he also knew that he valued the village highly. He would do as he was asked.

'Or die trying.' His mind added unhelpfully. He frowned. That was possible, but what would happen afterwards? He already had all ninja on red alert for Yashamarus' mission, but if that wasn't enough, he'd have to take down the demon himself. He sat at his desk and sighed. Looking out the window, he watched the moon for a moment. Tuning back to his desk he began reading his papers.

Suddenly a loud rumble shook the room. Looking up at the window, he saw a large shadowy figure tearing through his village. He glared at it and readied himself for the challenge. This would not be an easy fight, but the survival of the village depended on him winning.

He left his office and exited the building.

* * *

Hello,

Thank you all for the reviews. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, even though it was a little sad.

To answer your question MF, I'm not really all that great with romance. Plus, they're kind of young. I'll keep in mind that the readers like a little romance for later on. Not sure about a Temari/Sasuke, and this is only a brotherly/friendship Sasuke/Gaara, but I'm sure I can come up with something.

Salutations,

_Anonymous_


	6. Crashing

Morning came again. Just as it always had and always would. Come hell and war, this was something to be counted on. The village was still standing and the losses were nowhere near what the Kazekage had feared. He observed the damage quietly as he walked.

Once he'd taken down the demon its' sand had repelled all other attacks, sealing it in a dome of impenetrable armor. Since the immediate danger was over he'd called off any further attacks and ordered the ninja to begin cleaning the mess. Now that he knew how powerful the weapon had become' he couldn't risk letting it turn against the village. The problem was, he couldn't get in close enough to actually kill it.

He stopped for a moment to observe a pair of medic-nin helping a groaning mound of flesh. He turned away to continue his journey.

Thinking about the situation again he couldn't find anything to help him out of his predicament. He couldn't allow the issue to continue. If only the weapon could get ahold of himself, he wouldn't be forced to think about this. Yashamaru had told him its control was getting better, if that was true then…

No, last night was proof the jinchuriki had no control. The Kazekage arrived at his office and placed all his previous thoughts on hold for now. He needed to explain to the council soon why that liability was still walking. As he fought the wave of exhaustion that threatened to overtake him, he cleared his mind. He'd have to find an explanation later.

* * *

Sasuke shivered slightly in the morning breeze. After the ninja had left a group of medic-nin had set up down the street and were tending to the wounded. Sasuke had watched the line outside of the tent for some time, looking for anyone he knew. So far, only a few more kids from the orphanage had found them and joined there group.

"Hey, Sasuke?" Ryo looked to him as he began.

Sasuke looked at the younger children, then back to Ryo.

"Where do you think everyone else is?" Sasuke almost rolled his eyes at him.

Wasn't it obvious?

"They're probably dead, or under the building." He explained. Ryo's eyes widened.

"What?" Ryo whispered. Sasuke stared at him.

What other answer had he expected? The building collapsed, they were lucky to have gotten out at all. Instead of voicing his thoughts he waited for Ryo to say something.

"No. No! They can't be…no." Ryo was suddenly hugging his sides and starting to cry.

_'What?! What is he doing?'_ Sasuke knew what it felt like to feel scared, but this wasn't really worth Ryo's reaction, right? It's not like someone was attacking them, or everyone they knew was dead.

"Look," Sasuke started uneasily, "umm…I mean…I don't know. They could be okay, I guess." The awkward form of comfort eased some of Ryo's tension. Still sniffling he looked back at Sasuke.

"Really?"

'No.' The pessimistic thought came before he could help it. He'd always been taught to think realistically, and lean towards the worst outcome. Worst thing that's going to happen is your guess was correct and you were a least slightly prepared. Best outcome is you were wrong and you can feel happy you weren't right. That's how all ninja were brought up to think, but Ryo was a citizen, not a ninja. He thought differently. Sasuke felt himself grow unsure as Ryo waited for his reply. Was he supposed to lie?

"Um…I think so…I mean, there might be a chance they got out, but it'd be small…" Sasuke trailed off as Ryo stopped crying and looked relieved.

A medic-nin approached the children and handed out some bottled water for them to split. Sasuke passed the water around to the rest and avoided Ryo for a moment.

"You're okay!" Suddenly Saburo rushed up to them and pulled the closest kids into a hug. "We were so worried! I'm so glad you're okay!"

Sasuke pushed him off, but Saburo didn't seem to mind as he took in the state of the kids. Sasuke inspected him back and instantly zeroed in on the bandages on his head. After a moment he stood and brushed off some sand.

"Alright you guys, you did really well here. Now that I've found you we can go to our new place. It's not too far away and as soon as we get there you can take a nice bath, get some food, and take a nap if you want to. There's no school today, but Hana wanted me to make sure you guys knew we have to stay in the new building. No going outside for today, alright?"

He spoke as he led them to another circular building. They stepped into the front room and looked around. There was a small desk, similar to the one they'd left behind, a rug on the floor to cover the tile. There was a hallway leading to a small kitchen and dining room. A set of stairs led to multiple rooms and a bathroom. All in all it looked nearly identical to the one that they had just left, pre-destruction.

"Now don't worry about your clothes, we've got some outfits for all of you. Just go explore a little, we'll call you when the foods done." The younger kids followed him into the dining room. Sasuke went up the stairs and laid down on a bed.

Last night had been tiring. He hadn't gotten any sleep as he watched over the kids and tried to figure out what had happened. So far, all he knew was that some demon had been part of it and the Kazekage was fighting it. Sasukes face twisted in confusion. He didn't know much about demons, but he'd thought they were just stories or something. As sleep came over him he wondered if there was a book he could read on it.

* * *

Gaara awoke in a sudden burst of consciousness. He looked around himself blinking at the light. Turning he saw that he was near the village wall, the houses stood behind him, but something looked off about them. Gaara pulled himself onto a building nearby, looking closer to see what was wrong, and found the answer to his confusion.

Buildings were completely knocked down and large amounts of destruction littered the area. It looked as though a storm had tried to wipe out the village. A feeling nagged at the back of his mind, but he couldn't think straight and stumbled until he found himself at his favorite park.

A headache had started to form and Gaara closed his eyes to reduce the pain. He tried to remember how he'd gotten to the village walls last night, but his mind refused to cooperate. All he got for his trouble was another bout of pain and silence.

His sand shielded him from the unseen attack. He looked to the source and found two ninja advancing on him. He watched them and felt fear for what he knew was coming.

_'Why can't they leave me alone?'_

He hadn't even thought about it, before his trusted sand rose to defend him. The ninja slowed and studied their target. Then they attacked at full speed once again. The two worked perfectly together, darting away from Gaaras' sand as it rose to subdue them. Gaara tried to get away, his mind still wasn't thinking straight.

The weapons continued to fall upon his shield. When he tried to move away from them they followed. He felt fear and anger begin to fill him.

"Stop!" The word had left his mouth before he'd thought about it and he covered his head as one of them responded with a sword.

_'Please go away! Please just leave me alone! I want my Uncle!'_ The moment he thought it, the air around him shifted. The voice from before became excited and a bout of bloodlust ran through his veins.

**'Kill, kill, KILL! Ha-ha!'** Hysterical laughter engulfed his senses for a moment.

With a grin, he stood up properly and raised a small hand towards his opponent. He felt hyperaware of his actions and strange emotions flit through his chest.

The sand enveloped the ninja and he struggled to get away. His teammate watched transfixed by the scene. Gaara swallowed dryly as doubt clouded his mind and he nearly let them go. This wouldn't be the first time he'd killed, but it'd be the first time he'd wanted to and acted upon his emotions.

_'Should I kill them?'_ He hesitated.

"Demon bastard!" His victim shouted in the sand. All doubt left his body and by instinct, he clenched his hand into a fist.

The blood splat across the ground and the teammate from before cried out in fear as Gaara turned to them. He held his arm out to them as they tried to run.

A dark, humorous laugh appeared in his mind from the monster inside him, as he recalled how just a few minutes ago he had been trying to do the same thing. Sand crawled up the woman's legs and she shrieked. Swatting at the sand in a desperate attempt to force it to release her the sand continued to climb her body. She screamed in fear and twisted her body to dislodge it from the ever rising grains of death. The stench of her teammate's blood flooded her senses and she gasped for air.

His hand clenched into a fist before she could beg for mercy. Blood showered like hells rain upon the soiled sand.

Gaara moved away from the scene before more decide to show.

* * *

The woman shook. Out of fear or fury, she couldn't tell. That child…no that monster, had shredded her team to nothing. She was supposed to be the back-up, a medic, so she'd kept watch to make sure nothing became too serious, but once he'd started, it was too late.

A sob tore through her body.

_'He was supposed to be worn out!'_ She shouted to herself. They had thought they could get the demon while he was down. They had thought he would be easy! They had thought they would be heroes! They had thought… they had thought…

_'It doesn't matter what we thought!'_ She dried her tears as the shock settled in. She knew what she needed to do and with that last thought on her mind, she headed for the Kazekages office, he would need to hear this report directly.

* * *

The Kazekage stared thoughtfully out the window. After listening to a nearly hysterical kunoichi explain what had happened to her team he'd become frustrated. He gave orders to be followed to the dot, not to be disregarded on a whim. As she went on though, he became aware of something.

The demon wasn't attacking.

He knew he'd subdued it for last night, but he was sure that if it had wanted to it could reappear. Or in the least, they'd of felt the dark chakra that accompanied its use of power. If a team of ninja hadn't provoked it, perhaps it was possible the weapon was finally controlling its power source. It's possible that last nights' battle had driven a fear into its mind. It had lost badly to him, maybe he could try to rein it in. If it feared him, it shouldn't be too farfetched to assume it would listen to, at least some of, his commands.

He watched the window absentmindedly. He might be wrong, but if he was right…

He began making plans to get the council off his back. They would have to be forced to listen to his commands, if they didn't willingly do so.

First though, he needed to make sure any ninja, besides his ANBU, knew to stay away from the demon. He didn't need any unnecessary deaths.

* * *

Sasuke nearly groaned. Even after the strange…whatever… happened the day before, they still had school. He'd slept most of the day away yesterday and had only been given the news this morning. Due to the newness of the place and the abnormal event that took place a day ago, Saburo was leading the children to school and he'd be picking them up later.

As he followed the line he had to wonder how so few in the orphanage had been injured and even fewer were killed. Three children hadn't made it, but at least six had severe injuries. Hana had broken her leg after the roof fell in and Saburo had hit his head badly, but nothing serious had happened to either adult past that.

Sasuke took his place in class. He got his book back from a distracted safety class teacher and ended up reading for most of the day. None of the teachers seemed inclined to disturb him today, so he took advantage the best he could.

After school, they were supposed to go back to the orphanage, but Sasuke snuck away to get back to the blind shinobis' tent. Once he arrived he found the man packing up his supplies. After watching him for a bit he finally spoke up.

"Hello." The man jolted in shock, but smoothed it over with an easy grin.

"Hey there! What's up?"

"I was here…" He was cut off by the man suddenly picking up a large bag over his shoulder. "What are you doing?"

"Oh? Uh…I've gotta leave earlier than I'd planned. Tell that girly I said bye, would ya?"

"Sure." Sasuke wondered how he was supposed to ask his next question without sounding desperate or rude.

"So…"

"Here!" The man handed him a wrinkled paper bag. "You did okay on your first day, even though your lunch break was kinda stretching it, and you came back today. So, there yours."

Sasukes eyes widened in surprise. The man grinned and walked away.

"See ya!" He called over his shoulder.

Sasuke blinked, then raised a hand to wave. Soon the blind shinobi was lost in the crowd.

* * *

Gaara swung back and forth on the swing set. Having abandoned his favorite park, he found himself in the playground where he'd first met Sasuke.

As he looked around himself he realized that he had been subconsciously looking for something. Not sure of what he was looking for he settled on waiting. His stomach grumbled. He hadn't eaten in almost two days. All he'd done was walk aimlessly, stopping once at his house to get some water.

Sighing, he wondered what he should do, now that he knew everyone hated him he didn't know what he could do.

**'Kill them! Ha-ha!**' The dark voice gave him its opinion. Gaara listened for a moment.

**'Think about it! They don't love you, but I do! I love you! I'll always love you okay! Let's kill the rest! We'll watch their blood flow and bathe in their life! Why should you care? They don't care for you, so love yourself. Prove to them your existence and show them what you can do, what we can do!'**

Gaara trembled in fear of the voice.

"Who…who are you?" He shook out. The voice was quiet for a moment in silent contemplation.

**'I am whomever you want me to be.'** It said in a saner manner. Gaara thought about that for a while. Who he wanted it to be? That didn't make any sense.

"I don't want you to be anything. So, who are you?"

**'Don't worry about it. In time, I'm sure you'll think of someone you want me to be.'** It replied in scarily calm tone.

Gaara fought back the nausea that had begun to form. He continued to tremble as he thought of what the voice had said.

A shadow fell over his own and he looked up to see the Kazekage watching him. The shivers he'd suppressed after the voice left returned.

"I see you're doing well." The man stated. He did not wait for confirmation. Walking closer he stopped in front of Gaara, towering over his small form. Gaara kept his face blank, refusing to show this man his emotions.

"You're being relocated to the Kazekage mansion. You'll be taking lessons with me in the evenings and entered into school."

Gaara felt himself go numb. Was he being forgiven? Why was his – the Kazekage acting like this? His confusion must have been prominent. The Kazekage glared down at him.

"Don't get comfortable. You're only being relocated to spare me the embarrassment of having an unstable liability walking without supervision. The lessons you take with me are only because I can kill you the moment you disobey me. School will teach you anything I don't cover, but you're going for the sole purpose of appeasing the community. I don't want the rest of the ninja thinking they can climb the ranks with no schooling if they go around killing citizen and allies."

Gaara swallowed and nodded, holding back his tears. He knew better than to attack the Kazekage though. He was beginning to remember bits and pieces of the fight that had happened while he had blacked-out. The Kazekage could kill Gaara in a heartbeat, and he would in even less.

The Kazekage glared harder before deciding Gaara had fully understood what he'd come to relay. Satisfied, he left Gaara to find his own way to the mansion.

Gaara felt the tears as they traveled down his face and he tried to contain them. It seemed that everyday proved to him that his existence was an unwanted one. He had to fight for right to live, prove to them he deserved a place in the universe.

The tears discontinued and a spark of true hatred for his father emerged.

He got off the swing, walking to ease his mind. He felt the dark voices power overtaking him as the pain of his grief grew.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Gaara froze and looked to the voice. Sasuke stood with a school bag over one shoulder, a paper bag in one hand, and a book in his other hand. He stared, unsure of what to do.

What did he normally do?

Sasuke waited for the reply, so Gaara cleared his throat and fumbled for an answer. A strange burst of happiness erupted in his chest. A tentative hope bloomed as he watched Sasuke come closer.

"I…guess, nothing?" He waited anxiously for Sasukes reply.

"Okay." Sasuke flipped a page in his book and walked with Gaara. The silence was straining Gaaras nerves.

"Did you hear about the attack?" Gaara froze.

"None of the adults will tell me what happened exactly, but the orphanage got knocked down when we were eating." Gaara felt his fear quadruple with every word Sasuke spoke.

The feeling of the dark voice washed over him.

**'Oh? Who's this? Another victim? A toy?! Let's kill it! Watch his blood spill! What are you waiting for? KILL HIM!'**

"No!" Sasuke stopped walking.

"Hn?"

"No he…he's my friend." Gaara whispered under his breathe. Sasuke leaned in closer.

"What?" Studying Gaara he let worry cloud his expression. "Gaara? Are you okay?"

**'KILL HIM! KILL HIM! KILL HIM! Let his blood flood the sands! Verify your existence! He isn't your friend! Look at him! He's probably waiting! He'll try to kill you, just like that other one did!'** Suddenly the voice became softer.

**'Little one, you don't need him. I'll love you. I'll be your friend, okay?'** Although it wasn't shouting, the insanity made Gaara want to hide in fear and the switch in emotions confused him.

"No, no, no, no…" He held his hands over his ears and squeezed his eyes closed.

**'Come on, I promise. You love no one else, right? No one loves you, right? That means he doesn't really love you, he hates you!'** Gaara looked up at Sasuke. At the sudden attention Sasuke flinched backwards.

**'Look see! He fears you! He hates you! Kill him! Or he'll kill you!**' Gaaras eyes went cold as he watched. Sasuke was backing away from him as he stood up and he looked scared as Gaara stared. Gaara didn't notice the dark chakra slipping into his mind.

"You're right."

* * *

Sasuke took another step back and tried to swallow. He felt his body trying to flee, but it was only Gaara right? Gaara wouldn't hurt him.

_'Neither would nii-san.'_ A cold voice spoke up. He threw away the idea.

_'Gaara's different!'_ He argued and turned his attention on to his friend.

"Hey," His voice trembled. "Are…are you, okay Gaara?" Sand shot out at Sasuke and he rolled to the side, dropping his book and bags.

"Hey! What are you…" He jumped to escape another wave of sand.

_'I told you so.'_ His brain supplied. With a yelp he jumped backwards.

"Stop it!" He cried out. Sand hit his arm and he yelled out in pain. Clutching his arm he felt fear and adrenaline pump through his body.

Another strip of sand attacked him, clipping his shoulder. Panting he tried to watch for the next one. He jumped a second too late and the sand hit his ankle, forcing him into a roll. He winced in pain, but stood against it and watched his attacker warily. The next tentacle of sand missed him by a hairs breath. As he watched the sand closer, it slowed. He twisted and watched as each grain flew past. He looked back at Gaara. More sand came his way, but each time Sasuke avoided it. Sasuke felt his energy draining and he knew he had to get away.

"Why are you doing this?!" He cried. Gaara didn't answer, but something changed in his expression. Sasuke wasn't sure if he'd imagined it though, because a second later a wall of sand covered his view. His fear became frantic. Struggling through the sand, he gasped for air. It hardly registered to him that he could no longer see properly or that it seemed as though millions of bugs were crawling over his skin. All that mattered to him was oxygen.

Soon there was no light and he knew that the world had slipped away from him.

* * *

Gaara watched his sand fall off Sasukes limp form. His hands shook as he guided it away. He waited for Sasukes chest rise and fall, only then did Gaara turn away and run.

Gaara walked quickly and quietly, looking for his new 'home'. He glared at everything, even though it was dark and there was nothing to see.

**'Why didn't you kill him?'** The voice snarled. From the moment he'd turned away from the fight the voice had done everything it could think of to get Gaara to go back and kill everything in sight.

Gaara ignored it though, because he'd seen Sasukes face when he asked him why. He didn't beg him to stop or scream or even run away. He was still there and he even asked why Gaara was attacking him! Gaara felt something in his chest. It felt like something was burning at him. Not like anger, this was a thick awful feeling. It made him want to hide away, because it made him feel disgusting. He'd never felt anything like it.

**'WHY DID YOU NOT KILL HIM?'** The monster snarled again. That thought made him falter.

Monster. That's what Uncle called him, but he'd said a monster did he mean...

**'Ha-ha! So you figured it out little one?'** The voice turned sickly sweet. **'I am you and you are me, therefore we are I! Ha-ha!'**

Gaaras confusion was caught by the Shukaku.

**'I'm a monster and because we're one of the same…so are you!'**

'What? That not possible. I can't be a…a monster!' Gaara couldn't help his tears this time. 'How? How was this possible? It wasn't fair!'

**'It's okay, I still love you. I'll take care of you.'**

"Leave me alone!" Gaara screamed.

Was this why no one liked him? Because he was a monster? No one had ever really explained it to him, how was he supposed to know?

"How did you get there?"

The demon ignored him.

"How are you in me?! Why are you there? Why won't you get out?"

He thought back to Sasuke as he'd attacked him. He could have killed Sasuke! He didn't even know why he'd done it. It was like someone else had been in control and he'd barely stopped himself.

He really was a monster.

* * *

**Hello,**

**This chapter was probably kind of boring, but it's a bit necessary. I needed to explain a few things, like Gaara understanding exactly why people hate him (although he's still a little off), his father coming to get him, and a few other things I'm sure you noticed. **

**For the reviews, thank you! **

**Maximoffs Forever, Yashamarus scene was a little tricky to write, it makes me a bit sad too. Glad you liked the subtle way I threw in Kankuro, I'll try getting the siblings in more of the story later on, they just aren't important right at the second. -_-'**

**Danish78, I was actually surprised when I couldn't find a story similar to this. That's why I felt compelled to write Sunas' Sasuke . I also plan to focus a lot on development. I hope you enjoy it.**

**supreee011, I'm glad you're enjoying it. All romance is being reserved until much further on in the story, so it doesn't really matter whether or not it turns into yaoi for a while. :)**

**Guest, like I responded to supreee011, the romantic aspects of the story are far into the future. Should I decide that I want a yaoi relationship by then though, I will not be offended when you drop the story. I hope you enjoy it for now though. :) **

**Salutations,**

_Anonymous_


	7. Moving Forward

A breeze rustled the branches of the trees surrounding the training grounds. Sasuke took a step forwards into the moonlit scene. He wandered to a large rock planted besides the trees and climbed to the top. Once he got there he sat on the top waiting.

'I wonder where he is.' He thought absentmindedly. Picking at some grass and ripping it into shreds. He stared at the ground covered in grass for a moment.

'That's odd. Didn't I climb to the top of the rock?' Suddenly he was back on top of the rock waiting again. He shrugged it off and watched the tree line for the person he was waiting on.

'Oh, that's right.' He thought calmly. 'He isn't coming.' Not giving it a second thought as to how he knew this, he slipped off the rock and started his way down a path. A shadowed figure stepped onto the path in front of him. It stepped into a patch of light, revealing itself to be Itachi.

"Nii-san!" Sasuke smiled. He waited for a reply from his older brother and was met with a smile. The sunshine poured through the trees and illuminated the setting. The brothers walked side by side for a while.

"I missed you." Sasuke found himself saying. Itachi nodded quietly. For some reason Sasuke knew this statement was strange, even though he said it every time his brother came back from a mission.

"I met a kid. His names Gaara, he's kind of weird." Sasuke tried to let Itachi know of everything that had happened since he'd left. Itachi smiled kindly and nodded to let him know to continue. Sasuke smiled and began telling him how they met.

"And then the sand got everywhere!" Sasuke frowned. "Wait, there isn't sand in Konoha, right?" He turned to seek confirmation from his trusted nii-san, but found himself alone.

The trees crumbled into sand. The dry land around him was empty. Sasuke continued following the path and wound up in the playground he'd met Gaara in. Sitting in the swing he favored he wondered where everyone was. All at once he realized there were other kids he hadn't noticed before and Gaara was swinging beside him. He smiled at Gaara and received a smile in return.

"Do you know where Itachi went?" He asked. Gaara shook his head and they continued swinging. Everything went quiet and the night overtook the land. Sasuke found himself concerned.

He looked to Gaara again. Gaaras head was lowered and he was saying something under his breath. Sasuke backed away from him and Gaara lifted his head. His eyes spun with a Sharingan and his sand flew at Sasuke. Frozen to the spot, Sasuke could only watch as his supposed friend tried to kill him.

Just as the sand started enveloping his body Sasuke saw Itachi watching his death. In his eyes were the Sharingan spinning wildly. Fear consumed Sasuke and Gaara was left forgotten.

Taking a few steps back Sasuke fell backwards onto the empty street in his clans compound. He yelled as Itachi charged at him. A kunai sliced through his shoulder and Sasuke cried out in pain landing in a pile of sand. The sand rose and crawled up his body. Shaking and panting, Sasuke felt the sand cover him.

"Sasuke." A voice whispered. He ignored it and swatted at the sand.

"Sasuke!" The voice was much louder this time. He looked for the source trying to get away from the sand.

* * *

"Sasuke, wake up!"

Light flooded the land and a head ache became prominent as he found his eyes opening to a much more different atmosphere.

Confused he clutched his sheets expecting Itachi or sand to suddenly appear. When nothing happened his eyes darted over to Saburo who was watching him carefully.

"Hey kiddo, you alright?" Sasuke swallowed. Looking around revealed that he was in a small white room. Around him were curtains and Saburo sat in a small plastic chair beside the bed he laid in. Saburo was still watching him, waiting for a response.

Sasuke nodded and laid back down slowly after acknowledging that he was safe.

"You scared us." Saburo laughed slightly to lighten the mood. "When Kiato found you, you weren't moving. What happened?"

Sasuke didn't respond. Thinking back, he remembered going to the park to talk to Gaara, they were talking, Gaara started whispering to himself, sand and then nothing.

"I don't know." Sasuke said confused. What had happened? A flash of Gaara attacking him appeared and Sasuke grimaced.

'Why did Gaara attack me? Was he just testing his skills too?' Sasuke thought bitterly.

Saburo sat patiently as Sasuke reorganized his thoughts. Once Sasuke seemed calmer he stood up.

"Luckily, you didn't end up with any breaks, but you did fracture your arm, so we'll need to keep that wrapped up for a few months. Nothing else serious injury wise, but you did miss a few days of school. We got them to excuse the homework, but some of the teachers want you to stay after school for catch up lessons, okay?"

"How long was I asleep?" He asked surprised.

"About three days, give or take a little." Saburo smiled. Sasukes eyes widened, but kept all other reactions to himself.

"You bumped your head pretty badly, but you'll be okay." Saburo walked towards a door. "I've gotta go, but I'll be picking you up later this evening. You think you can wait till then?" Saburo asked kindly.

Sasuke nodded and watched as he left.

A nurse walked in a few minutes later. After giving him a check-up and rewrapping his arm, she got him a tray of food and a coloring book to pass the time. He ate everything hungrily and set the coloring utensils to the side.

'Why do people want to test their skills on people by trying to kill them?' He wondered to himself thinking about Itachi and Gaara. He glared at the wall in front of himself. How was he supposed to stop people from trying to test their skills on him?

His thoughts began formulating plans to stop people from trying to kill him.

'If I get stronger than everyone, then maybe they won't try?' Sasuke frowned. It sounded like a good idea at first, but then he wondered how long it would take to get stronger than everyone.

'What I'm too weak to fight?' This idea made sense. People don't normally try testing themselves on things that they know they can beat. Still, Sasuke frowned again. He couldn't just stop getting stronger, he'd already decided to keep practicing.

'Well, what if I make them think I'm super weak, but I'm really strong. Then I could surprise people who try to fight me and no one would try to test themselves on me.' Sasuke suddenly felt himself smiling. He found he really liked this idea. It'd be like a secret. No one would ever know just how strong he was until they messed with him and then suddenly it wouldn't be so funny for them.

Sasuke could just imagine the looks on his future enemies' faces as he surprised them with his amazing strength. Leaning back he passed the rest of his day thinking of the future battles he was going to win by surprising his opponents.

A nurse looked in and smiled at the child's expression. She was glad he seemed to be happy now.

* * *

The Kazekage watched as the demons container continued the katas he'd shown it. The container was learning quickly, he observed. Without speaking to it, he turned and left the training grounds to return to his office. Passing over the streets he cataloged the damaged buildings and stopped in front of what he knew to be an orphanage. The roof had caved in and the structure was all but destroyed.

With a grimace he wondered about his citizens. How many had been left without homes, jobs, or even family? How was he supposed to guarantee that this wouldn't happen again?

Shaking his head he continued making his way back to the office. There was nothing he could do about it now, except help with recovery. He couldn't kill the jinchuriki for political reasons, at least not for now.

'But if something like this should ever happen again though…' The Kazekage clenched his fist, there would be no hesitation, and politics be damned.

He sat down at his desk and began reading through the papers. Most were letters concerning the demons attack, but one letter caught his attention.

**_Dear Kazekage,_**

**_The academy would like to offer its' assistance with the rising number of orphans within Suna. We'd like to accept a few hundred students outside of the enrollment age and prepare them for genin status. Should you agree with our proposal we will gladly accept any student you bring to our attention._**

The Kazekage smirked slightly. The school had been asking for permission to enroll more students for some time. The council had disagreed with this idea thinking it would lower Sunas quality of ninja, but now the school had tied his hands. Should he refuse this offer the academy could deny the demon container because of its age.

Of course they probably wouldn't dare disobey his requests, but the threat was obvious.

He sighed, honestly he didn't think it would really damage the forces if he allowed them to take in more students, but it may take more funding to support the students' income. He pondered the idea after reading through the rest of the letter.

The image of the destroyed orphanage came to mind.

Frowning he thought of how to go about raising the necessary funds for this operation. He quickly wrote up a letter to the academy giving them permission to start scouting for students, but made sure to state his own demands concerning the enrollments.

Glad to have gotten that out of the way he returned to the rest of the paperwork.

* * *

Temari grabbed a glass of water from the fridge. She was beat. After all the training she'd done at the academy today, she didn't think she could move much further as she slumped into a chair in the dining room.

Kankuro pulled up a seat next to her and grabbed her drink. As he downed it Temari glared at him, then rolled her eyes and sat her head on the table. Setting the glass on the table, he turned to her.

"So, how was your day?" He asked. Raising an eyebrow, she stared at him. "What? Can't I ask about your day?"

She sat up and waited, watching him as he began to fidget. Kankuro huffed as though insulted.

"Fine! Could you help me move into the room across from yours?"

"What?" Kankuro rolled his eyes looking exasperated, but he wouldn't look her in the eye as he explained himself.

"Look, it just…the damn brat took the room two doors down from mine. I haven't been able to sleep properly since! I keep dreaming the creep's gonna crawl in while I'm sleeping and ya know…" He made a motion with his hand across his neck.

Temari nodded sympathetically. They both were aware it was a real possibility, after Yashamarus death they knew Gaara had no problems offing a family member.

She stood as he led her to his room where his things were already boxed up and ready to go. Once they'd gotten everything out they sat in Kankuros new room panting.

"Hey? You ever wonder what it'd be like if he didn't have the demon?" Temari asked.

Kankuro frowned and took a swig of water from his canteen. "No, not really. Why, do you?"

Temari shook her head. "I don't know." She stood up and headed for the door. "I just wish sometimes, you know, that he wasn't so…you know?" Kankuro just stared at her.

"Never mind." She took a step out the door.

"No! Hey wait, I get what you mean." Temari looked back to Kankuro who was fiddling with the tape on one of his boxes. "I guess, sometimes I kinda wish he was, you know, just our little brother, right?"

Temari swallowed and nodded.

"Yeah well," Kankuro shrugged. "There isn't really anything we can do about it."

Temari smiled and began shutting the door. "Alright, well, have fun unpacking."

Kankuro made an unidentifiable grunting noise and she left. Back in the kitchen she got another glass of water and sat down at the table again.

The front door opened and she watched as her youngest brother walked in. She turned away and ignored him as he walked past the doorway towards his room.

Emptying her glass she left the house.

* * *

Saburo arrived just as the sun was beginning to set. The doctors had declared him healthy enough to leave and they headed back to the orphanage. As they walked Sasuke felt Saburo watching him. It was a great relief to him once they reached the building and his attention was directed elsewhere.

"Sasuke! What were you thinking?! Leaving the line like that, we told you all that you were to come back right after school! If you hadn't been found…" Hana sat in her wheelchair crossing her arms at Sasuke.

Sasuke felt guilt travel through his spine and lowered his eyes.

Hana stopped scolding him. "I hope you've learned your lesson, okay? No more running off, you come straight back here after school, understand?"

Sasuke nodded and Hana smiled.

"Come here." She gave him a small hug and ruffled his hair.

"You scared us. Now go get ready for dinner. You're exempted from dishes due to the wrappings on your arm, but you're still helping with the chores afterwards, alright?"

Sasuke nodded and headed for the stairs, hiding the tears he felt pooling in his eyes.

Kiato was in the room digging through a bag on his bed when Sasuke got there.

He looked up and gave half a wave when Sasuke walked in.

"You're back."

"Yeah." Sasuke headed for his bed to grab a new set of clothes. As he headed for the bathroom he stopped and turned to Kiato. "Thanks, I guess." At Kiatos confused look he continued. "For finding me."

"Oh," Kiato blushed a little and looked away. "Okay."

Sasuke left awkwardly. When he got back Kiato was gone. He made his way to the dining room.

"Here!" Ryo waved at him enthusiastically and pulled out a chair next to him. Kiato waved at him as well as Sasuke sat down. After dinner was set and they began to eat, the atmosphere lightened and Sasuke found himself enjoying the peace.

* * *

Hana sighed as the last few children made their way up the stairs to bed. Sadly she couldn't take them to bed herself due to being bound to her wheelchair, but she knew she could count on Saburo to take care of it.

She headed for her office/bedroom. She needed some sleep after all of todays' work, it was difficult maneuvering her chair around. She was pretty sure she'd run over at least a dozen toes, including Saburos', as she moved from place to place.

She picked up a stack of letters off her desk with a groan. Some were letters from interested parents asking about certain children and things like that, but most were messages from the school giving updates on the children.

Sometimes she wished the school would just send one big letter with all the necessary information, but snorted at the idea of the school actually trying to do that.

Skimming through the letters she finally reached the last one after thirty minutes. It was marked as from the Ninja Academy and dropping all the other letters she rolled herself out of the room and at the bottom of the stairs.

Saburo came down after a little while and looked at her.

"Hey, what's up?" Hana shook her head.

"Look at this!" Saburo took the paper from her.

"What?" He read the message. "Wait, what? Tomorrow?"

He looked up and Hana nodded.

"Why are they…" His eyes lit up. "Oh."

"Yep, they're coming to interview the kids in the afternoon."

"I thought I heard something about this, they're looking for students' right?"

Hana nodded.

"Well, isn't that good?"

"No! Once the kids are in the program, unless they fail, I can't help them get adopted. They'll be pulled out of the system."

Saburos eyes widened. "What? That doesn't make any sense."

"The kids are orphans. Perfect for what they'll be trained to do." She shook her head in disgust.

Saburo understood and watched her. "Well…I guess it makes sense. I mean…" He trailed off at her look.

She grabbed the paper and glared at it. Saburo sympathized with her, knowing she adored all the children here and the ninja's way of life wasn't the best one, but Saburo had to agree with the villages reasoning. Someone had to fight, he just wished they didn't need to.

He helped Hana cleanup for the visitors then headed home. Both of them would need sleep for tomorrow.

* * *

Gaara at on top of the roof, staring at the starry sky. The Kazekage hadn't told him what he was allowed to do with his free time, but he decided to stay away from the rest of the village as much as he could.

Ever since he'd realized he was a monster, he'd started avoiding anywhere with people. This was difficult though, because the Kazekage required that he go to the ninja academy. The kids there were all scared of him and he had his own seat to the side of the classroom. The teacher ignored him and Gaara tried his best not to draw attention to himself.

A star streaked through the sky and Gaara watched as a breeze chilled him.

He thought of Sasuke. His mouth dried and he wondered how he was doing. Was he okay? Did he hate him?

'He probably does.' Gaara thought. He pulled his knees up to his chest and watched another comet race across the blackness. Tears accumulated, but he refused to let them fall.

'Monsters don't get to cry.' He wiped his eyes.

**'What's so wrong with being a monster, huh?'** Gaara ignored it, just like had been for the past few days. At first it had screamed at him and taunted him, even going so far as to threaten him, but Gaara refused to speak to it or listen to its demands.

It huffed in disappointment.

**'You know, I'm all you've got. Everyone hates you! I don't though.'** At the lack of response it growled.** 'Fine! I don't care! You'll come around! Ha-ha! I know you will!' **It went silent after the last declaration and Gaara trembled trying not to cry.

It was true, everyone hated him, but he would never be friends with that thing! It was why he was a monster. He climbed back into his new room and waited for the day to begin.

* * *

Sasuke followed the line back to the orphanage. He itched to go back to the playground and retrieve his chakra weights, but he knew better than to try anytime soon. Plus, he was a little worried about finding Gaara there.

Hana met them at the door and Saburo lead the younger kids into the backyard. Sasuke noticed the tall man standing at the side of the room. The man looked at him oddly and Sasuke waved politely, then turned his attention back to Hana as she started to talk.

"Alright everyone, I'd like you meet a visitor of ours. Juan Lee." The man pulled away from the wall and held up a clipboard.

"When I call your name, please follow me into the interview room."

Hana glared at him and he took a step back sheepishly.

"As I was saying, this man is from the Ninja Academy. He'll be interviewing each of you in the meeting room. Now don't worry, you do not have to go with him if you don't want to. When he calls your name, if you decide you don't want to see him, let me know and I will tell him, okay?"

The man smiled and nodded politely, but Sasuke could tell he didn't like her taking over his job. The kids nodded back to her and sat in the waiting room.

Each name was called by Lee and all that entered left with mildly confused expressions.

'Should I go in?' Sasuke wondered. He was planning to hide his strengths, but could he do that if he entered the academy? On the other hand though, he needed someone to teach him. He couldn't advance any further without a sensei. He pondered the questions seriously.

'When will this chance ever appear again?' He stopped mid-thought. He knew he wouldn't be able to get in if he changed his mind. This opportunity would never arise for him again. With this new insight he made his choice.

Finally Sasukes name was called and he stood to enter the room. Hana looked at him and asked silently if he was sure he wanted to enter. He readied himself and opened the door.

He immediately recognized the use of genjutsu. Just as he started to dispel it though, he remembered his vow to hide his abilities. Instead he allowed the genjutsu to take control and sat down at the table to talk with the man the genjutsu wished for him to see.

"Hello. As you know, I am here to recruit young individuals for our program. First I must start off with, do you wish to become a ninja?"

Sasuke nodded.

"Good. Now, do you have any previous experience or training in the ninja arts?"

Sasuke hesitated. What was the proper answer to this? Should he let him know he had training?

'No, he'll know how strong I am if he knows I've been trained.' He shook his head.

"Okay. Do you understand that by entering this program you may not leave until you have either reached chunnin status or died?"

Sasuke swallowed. If he took this opportunity, there was no turning back. Steeling his resolve he looked the genjutsu figure in the eye.

"I understand."

The man raised an eyebrow and smirked.

"Alright then. Please sign here." He pulled out a set of papers stapled together and pointed to the lines Sasuke needed to sign. Skimming through most of it, he did as instructed and waited for further instructions.

"It was nice meeting you, Sasuke. We will enjoy having you in class, I'm sure." The man ended the genjutsu and pulled away from the wall he'd been stationed at. He smirked when Sasuke didn't so much as bat an eye.

"So you did see me at the entrance? You have good eyes." He said. Sasuke berated himself for not looking surprised.

"Someone will be picking you up tomorrow morning to direct you to your apartment. You will be shown to the academy once. We will be paying for your new home as well as your food and clothes. If you have any questions, ask the person picking you up."

Sasuke nodded and stood to leave.

The man opened the door and they exited.

"These are the students we've recruited." Lee handed over a list of names.

Hana glared at it. "Alright then. You can see yourself out the door, correct?"

Lee nodded and left. Sasuke went up to his room and packed his clothes into his bag. There wasn't much, but he needed something to do.

Kiato walked in and pulled out his bag as well.

"So, you get in too?" Kiato asked stuffing a shirt into his bag.

"Yes."

"It feels weird." Sasuke nodded. Ryo walked in and sat on his bed. Both Kiato and Sasuke watched him.

"What?"

"Did you get into the ninja thing?" Kiato asked.

"Huh? Oh, uh, yeah. They had me sign some stuff."

Kiato grinned. "Awesome! I thought I was gonna have to leave you behind!" He hugged Ryo for a moment before grabbing his bag and packing again.

Sasuke returned to his work.

"I wonder if they'll separate us." Ryo said.

Kiato glared. "They won't." He promised.

"Good. I don't want us three to be separated."

Sasuke stopped packing.

"Yeah, that'd suck." Kiato said.

'Wait what?' Sasuke looked over the edge of his bed at the two below. They were packing, but Sasuke could tell they were serious about wanting him around.

'I hope we aren't together.' Sasuke thought to himself thinking of the privacy he'd receive. He didn't show any of his thoughts on the outside though, and returned to packing.

* * *

After they'd finished up in their rooms they helped with the last dinner they'd be eating at the orphanage.

"I just wanted to let you guys know, that I am proud of you. I know you'll do great." Hana said to the six kids that were leaving.

"Yeah, just don't forget us!" Saburo called out playfully.

"You're welcome here any time!" Hana said smiling.

The next morning all the new students rose early and prepared for their leave. Hana made a special breakfast for them and helped them make sure they'd grabbed everything.

At long last, the first ninja came in and took one of the students. The next one took Kiato and Ryo. Hana had probably told them about their attachment to one another.

The next one picked up Sasuke and he followed her out. She fished out a piece of paper and began to read.

"Okay…Hi! My name is insert name here, I will be showing you to your new home. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask!"

Sasuke stared at her.

"What's your name?" The kunoichi ignored him and turned around.

"Now, please follow me!" She dug around in her pocket again. "Crap!" Finally she pulled out another paper, this one was much more wrinkled than the first and she squinted to read it.

"Right…This way!" She turned left then halted and turned right.

"Whoops! Sorry, meant this way!" Sasuke followed her in confusion and studied her physical appearance.

She wore a standard vest and kunai pouch on her leg. On her back was a long sword and Sasuke could tell there were more weapons concealed within her outfit. Her hair was rolled into a bun and dark brown and her clothes were a light brown. She had on a pair of loose pants meant to allow movement and a long sleeve shirt to block the sun and hide weapons.

They entered a building after a few hours of walking and getting lost. The woman waved at a lady manning the desk.

"Hello! Apartment 13 C please!" The lady smiled and pulled out the key. They went up the stairs until they hit the fourth floor.

"9, 11, ah-ha 13 C!" She opened the door and let Sasuke in.

Sasukes initial reaction was, that it was very small.

The weird ninja he'd followed had searched the place in under twenty seconds. Stepping in the door he was met with the kitchen. Four steps forwards and he'd crossed into the living room slash dining area slash bedroom. The only furniture in the room was a futon, which was currently being used by the other person. To his left was a door that lead to a tiny bathroom.

He set his bag besides the futon and waited for her to do something.

"Well, I guess I'm done here." She stood to go then turned suddenly. "Oh wait! I've got to take you to school! Almost forgot!" She grinned and started back out the door.

"Am I starting today?" Sasuke asked.

"Hmm? No."

"What's your name?" Sasuke asked realizing she was finally answering him.

"Huh? Oh, Chun. So, you excited to be part of the program?"

"No." She grinned and turned to him.

"I think I'm gonna like you!" She stated factually.

* * *

The next day Sasuke woke up before the sun as he normally did. He got ready for school and walked to class.

"Hey!" Sasuke froze. "I didn't know you attended here?"

Temari walked up to him and smiled.

"I just started." He stated. She nodded.

"So you're part of the recruitments, huh?" Sasuke nodded and she grinned.

"Well then, let me how you around!" She took him to each class and showed him the training grounds. A kid with paint on his face walked up to them.

"And this thing, is my brother Kankuro." She said with a bored tone. Sasuke fought back a grin at his expression.

"Who's this?" Kankuro asked aggravated.

"Oh, this is Sasuke. He's new, so I'm showing him around." Temari waved her brother away.

"He's annoying, but harmless. I'd steer clear of him if I were you though." She told him.

She led him to his class room, then took off to her own class. Sasuke pulled out a book and ignored the rest of the students as they entered the room.

The teacher walked in and everyone sat down.

"Alright. As I'm sure you've all noticed, we have a few new students today."

"Idiots." Someone pretended to sneeze in the back of the room. The teacher ignored them and called out to several of the new students to introduce themselves.

One was from the orphanage Sasuke came from, but the others were unknown to him. The teacher called on him.

"Hi, I'm Sasuke. Call me Sasuke." He went to sit back down.

"Wait, is there anything else you'd like to share?" Sasuke shook his head. "Okay, then is there anything you guys would like to ask Sasuke?" The teacher looked around.

"Yeah, what's your family name?"

"I don't know." Sasuke answered.

"What do you do for fun?"

"Nothing." Sasuke wondered why they'd want to know.

"Why are you such an idiot?"

"Yumi, that's enough!" The teacher snapped. Sasuke sat quickly and pretended he hadn't heard the last question.

The teacher moved on from him and Sasuke looked around the classroom for the first time. There weren't many kids. Each table sat two or three students, Sasuke was one of the few that had only one student at the table. The only other table like his had…

Sasukes eyes widened as he recognized the red hair on Gaaras head. He turned back around and tried not to think about it.

Of course he goes to a ninja academy. Where else would he of learned that sand jutsu? Sasuke glared and he concentrated on not thinking of the object causing his anger.

Once class ended, Sasuke ran all the way home, avoiding any signs of red the entire trip.

* * *

**Hello,**

**So, Sasuke will not be growing up as a civilian. I hope this chapter was entertaining! Although reviews are not the reason I write, I do enjoy the motivation they bring. Therefore, I'd like to thank my reviewers. Thank you!**

**Maximoffs Forever: **

**I don't know, maybe I should leave Gaara all alone and have Sasuke hate him forever. ;) I'm glad you like my take on the Kazekage. I don't really think anyone is clear cut evil. I just think he stand on rocky moral grounds. **

**Danish78:**

**I'm glad you enjoy the development. It will probably stay kind of slow as they grow up, because I really like the idea of watching them develop as they grow together. I'd greatly enjoy the story you mentioned and I don't mind which way you decide to send it.**

**Salutations,**

_Anonymous_


	8. Forgiveness Found

If there were only one thing that a person could say all humans share in life, it would likely be that, excluding some mundane physical needs, trials would be an answer. We all face a point in life where a choice must be made and, for better or for worse, we make our decisions.

There isn't always a right choice, there isn't always a wrong choice, and sometimes we don't even realize there's a choice at all. In fact, at times, we don't even realize there is a choice to be made!

In any case, trials exist for everyone. It's only in ignorance that we assume another's life is lead in absence of their own trials.

Sadly, this statement held true for Kiato, as he stomped out of the school yard and headed back towards his apartment. Glaring at the ground in an attempt to burn away the sand, he avoided confrontation with any strangers.

To him no one could have lived a life equal to, much less harder than his own, except Ryo of course. Living on the streets with no one to help them, no one to care. Then ending up in an orphanage where no one adopted either of them, because no one wanted two kids off the streets. He'd thought that joining the ninja academy was finally the lucky break for him a Ryo, but now…

Kiato growled and kicked a stray rock as he recalled how some kid at school had nearly beaten him to a pulp during practice. Some kids had laughed while the teacher rolled his eyes and called him over to sit out for the rest of the day.

It had been one of the most humiliating moments of his life.

Luckily Ryo had been smart enough to opt out of physical practice, all new civilian students were allowed time to catch up before starting to avoid any severe injuries.

That didn't stop the bullies from cornering new students in the halls though. Most new students began traveling in groups to ward off any physical confrontations, but Kiato hated being around so many people all the time.

Ryo was staying after school to talk with some sensei about something or another, so Kiato had left in an attempt to get as far away from the building as possible.

Now he was stuck wandering the roads looking for the way back to his temporary home.

He watched as another kid his age ran across the street in a hurry. Noting the red hair Kiato recognized the village monster and quietly studied him as he turned a corner. With a strange feeling of paranoia he turned the other direction and decided he'd wait at the school for Ryo to finish.

* * *

Gaara ran as fast as he possibly could, cutting a corner and nearly slipping from the change in direction. He finally arrived at his destination and stood panting.

He was in the yard behind the Kazekage mansion, where he was supposed to be taking lessons from the Kazekage after school. A short thick tree stood to the side of the space and Gaara walked over to it sitting in the shade.

Cooling off, Gaara contemplated the likelihood the Kazekage was actually going to show up. So far, in the past few weeks, it had only happened twice. The first time the Kazekage didn't show up Gaara had ended up waiting overnight, afraid to leave without permission. He later found that the Kazekage had been working and hadn't bothered to tell Gaara he wasn't coming. After that Gaara only waited an hour before simply leaving.

A part of him hoped the Kazekage would show up when Gaara left so the Kazekage could see how it felt to be ignored, while at the same time Gaara hoped to death the Kazekage never showed up because of the repercussions that would follow.

Once he'd caught his breath, Gaara stood and stretched, readying himself for his own practice. Starting the katas he'd been shown he began his mindless activity in peace.

Thoughts began winding their way through his peace and he turned his attention to them. He thought of the monster inside him, waiting for him to let his guard down. Going through another form he shivered and moved to the next thought.

He thought about today's homework at school. The teacher had exempted him from the paperwork, probably terrified of ordering around a monster, but he was still going to study the material anyway. Narrowing his eyes in thought he tried to remember the subjects he'd gone over, but groaned internally when his thoughts drifted to his classmates. Well, to be exact one certain classmate.

Why the universe was so cruel Gaara would never understand, but when all he'd wanted was to never see this one person, as in never ever for the rest of his life ever see, the universe sticks Sasuke right into his class.

Not that Sasuke was really doing anything in particular.

Actually, thought Gaara as he began another kata, that was the worst part. Sasuke didn't do anything. He didn't glare at him or avoid him or even…anything! It was driving Gaara crazy. At most it seemed like maybe Sasuke was ignoring him.

He shifted into a new kata and began thinking of his uncle. A bad taste entered his mouth.

Strangely, although it had only a month, Gaara found that that he thought of his uncle very little. Just after a week of living in his new life he'd already started forgetting some of the small things about his uncle, his mind refusing to place any previous importance on these facts in order to protect himself.

As he struggled with a form the Kazekage had shown him earlier he set aside all other thoughts.

* * *

Sasuke nearly flew across the ground racing away from the school as soon as the bell rang. Not quite running, but speedily escaping all the same Sasuke rushed to an abrupt halt as a figure stepped in front of him.

It was the girl from the shop, Temari.

"Woah, hey there!" She cried out in surprise. "Watch where you're going, brat!"

Sasuke glared halfheartedly at her, surprised at her sudden appearance as well.

Temari took a second then looked back at Sasuke.

"What are you up to?" She asked him as they began walking in the same direction.

Shrugging his shoulders he continued walking.

"Huh. You know where the training grounds are?" Temari asked.

Sasuke shook his head and Temari nodded.

"Didn't think so. You civilian newbies should be working your asses off to catch up. Follow me I was on my way over there for practice anyway."

Temari waved her hand at Sasuke, indicating that he was to follow as she sped up.

After a few minutes of walking and endless chattering on Temaris' part, the duo wound up in front of a gate. A sign was posted, 'Warning. Enter At Your Own Risk. Basic Training Field. Area 1'.

"Alright, it seems we've arrived. Now just so you know, this is the field for basic training, nothing too destructive." Temari opened the gate and they stepped through. "It's for practice, maybe some friendly sparring. There is a small medic unit near the front." She pointed out a building off to the side. "But, try not to injure yourself too badly, because I don't think its really manned often. It is open to ninja for use, but I doubt anyone really does. Actually to be honest, I'm pretty sure it's completely empty so... never mind."

They walked further in and Sasuke looked around. The area had large rocks and boulders positioned throughout for and a few short, thick trees with yellow and brown shrubbery at the base, seeking shelter from the wind and sun. A few other students from class could be seen practicing and sparring.

As a tumble weed passed, Temari lifted an arm. "So, this is it. Once you advance further and you need more room away from other kids for dangerous maneuvers and what not, you can ask for permission to enter other field areas. It's highly suggested that you only practice in the fields though, cause there are some pretty steep punishments for injuring anyone outside of the designated spaces. Especially civilians, but you can receive a suspension for injuring a fellow student too."

Sasuke nodded.

"You got that?" Temari turned to Sasuke. "Good. So no school fights or anything. I don't think you have time for suspension, what with you just starting schooling and all. Speaking of which, I practice in Area 4, my sensei has my brother and I training away from others. But, if you ever need any help, with kata's or something, I don't mind sticking around to help. 'Kay?"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, but nodded anyway.

"Okay. So, I'll see you later." She waved good-bye as she crossed the grounds to the next gate and entered the Area 2.

Sasuke waved as Temari left, then turned to head back home. Seeing as he was still injured, there wasn't too much he could do at the moment. Besides, he really didn't want to spend any more time with his fellow students.

* * *

Still practicing his exercises, Gaara finally gave up on the Kazekages arrival and headed for the mansion. It was much cooler inside and he grabbed himself a glass of water.

Curious about the rest of the building Gaara wandered around the hallways looking absentmindedly.

After finding several guest rooms he found a nice big room with a few sets of fans on a desk. Picking one up he used it to cool himself off. Walking around, he found a short sword and some shoes beside the bed. He picked up the sword and set the fan on a pillow.

It was heavier than he'd thought it was going to be. Swinging it hazardously it landed in the end post of the bed. Gaaras eyes widened and he pulled on it, but it was stuck. Letting the sword go he twirled some sand in his hand and blasted the sword with it, but he only ended up with a mess and the sword was still stuck in the bed post.

Not wanting to cause further damage, Gaara grabbed the fan off the bed and pulled the sand from the room into a ball.

Closing the door quickly he walked across the hallway and peered into the room across from the last one.

Slowly he stepped into the room, shutting the door behind himself.

This room was slightly smaller than the last, yet it was also much fuller. Littering the floor were strings and pieces of wood. On the unmade bed sat a strange bundle.

Curious, Gaara closed the fan he'd acquired and set it in his pocket. Poking the bundle, he watched for any movement. Finding that it was safe, Gaara pulled off the cover and jumped at his discovery.

Under the blanket was some sort of doll. It was strange looking, Gaara thought as he picked it up. Something rattled on the inside and Gaara dropped it. The head fell and he stifled a yelp as it loudly bounced off the floor and under a desk.

Standing stalk still for nearly five minutes, Gaara waited to see if anyone had heard. With no indication of having been caught, Gaara quietly dashed under the desk to retrieve the fallen piece.

He pulled the head out and turned to go back to the bed, but stopped as a small doll came to his attention. He set the head onto the chair beside himself and picked up the doll from underneath the desk. It was attached to a set of strings and some sort of handles.

Frowning at it he stood up and held the handles. Moving it about for a moment he found that tilting the handles in different ways made the little doll move. Interested Gaara left the room making the little figure walk beside him.

He explored more of the rooms, avoiding everyone else. After a little while he left the mansion and made his way to the playground.

Once there he sat the doll on the swing beside himself and took out the fan, waving it around and making the sand move with it.

* * *

Sasuke flopped into his bed and groaned. The first week he'd gotten to Suna, Sasuke thought he'd seen the worst of he land.

With the sand wars and constant wind, it wasn't so hard to believe.

After a few months though, he'd been proven disastrously wrong as he witnessed the sand storms outside his windows. Now, he'd thought for sure, he was certain, that now he'd seen the absolute worst Suna had to offer.

Once again though, he was proven horrifyingly wrong.

Once May hit, all hell broke loose.

Sasuke moaned, "The heeeat…"

He could barely take it. His skin had started blistering and his cast was the worst. Luckily he was getting it removed next week, but for now it stank and hurt. Nothing he did helped it either, because he wasn't allowed to get the cast wet. He could barely use it at all, which made it very difficult to do even the simplest things, like put his hair up.

Sasuke fiddled with the air conditioner sat in the window. The air filtered through the groaning machine, yet it came out only slightly cooler than the air inside the room. Sasuke hit the top on the machine before giving up.

He made his way to the sink and grabbed some water. Afterwards he sat at his table and began his homework mindlessly. Due to his, and all the other civilian students, late enrollment, they all had extra homework in order to help them catch up.

Finishing up a short answer concerning the history some famous battle, Sasuke neatly stacked his homework and set it to the side.

Blowing air into the empty room, he stared out lost in boredom. Soon his thoughts turned towards his education. In the academy he was still exceling, but only in academics. Like Ryo, he'd opted for time to catch up in the physical areas. Unlike Ryo, he didn't actually need it, but the later he started joining in on spars, the more time he had to decide how to handle them. On one hand it went against every bone in his body to not give it his all and annihilate his competition, if possible. On the other, no one was going to believe he was just a stupid weakling if he was winning all the fights.

Deciding that this was a thought for another time, Sasuke remembered his chakra weights from the blind salesmen. He'd yet to retrieve them, but there'd been no reason to. He was in a cast and he was worried that he'd run into Gaara if he went. The cast was coming off soon though and he could truly use them.

After a moment of weighing his options he stood up and left the apartment, heading for the park.

* * *

Gaara watched as the sun began to dip in the sky. The breeze quickly changed to cooler wisps, foretelling the chill of the night. An orange glow enveloped the scenery, creating an odd yet tranquil setting.

Pushing himself on the swing, Gaara thought about the trek home. He knew what awaited him once he reached it. His siblings would either ignore him nervously or quickly leave in favor of taking cover in their bedrooms. Gaara had originally set up his room next to Kankuro seeking some sort of acceptance in the home, but after a few days his brother had moved across the building. While he had known it was probably going to happen the obvious rejection still hurt.

Gaara stopped swinging and looked at the fan in his hand. Using it to move the sand he watched as he created little spirals on the ground. Entranced by his handy work he felt an unfiltered thought enter his mind.

'I bet Uncle would love this.'

Suddenly his creations no longer looked beautiful or neat. With a swipe the art work was gone. He threw the fan across the playground and stood panting. An eerie feeling crawled up his spine, one he was sadly becoming more accustom to. The monster wanted to talk.

"Shut up." Gaara growled. The aura slinked away, but not before Gaara felt the cruel laughter from the creature vibrate through his head. Tears sprung up, desperate for release, but Gaara refused to let them fall. His sight turned blurry though and the ground seemed to rise towards him.

After a moment he realized he'd fallen to his knees. A darkness filled his chest and for once, it had nothing to do with the monster. A choked sob escaped his throat as Gaara found he could no longer hold his pain inside. The sadness overwhelmed him. The feelings of loss and betrayal he'd worked so hard to ignore finally reared its' ugly head. His world had fallen apart, and the worst part was, he didn't even know who to blame for it all. There was no one to yell at, no one to hurt back. His Uncle was dead, sacrificing himself to kill the monster inside Gaara and yet Gaara knew next to nothing about the creature inside himself. There was no one to tell him anything, there was no one to help.

Gaara was alone.

* * *

Sasuke walked down the alleys finding the quickest path to the park. Quietly he slipped past a group of loud adults debating something in heated tones.

"Can't believe they let that monster go!" Growled one man.

"Well what were they going to do? Release the demon?" Asked a woman blowing out a breath of cigarette smoke.

"Huh! I bet they just can't kill it." Spoke a third voice. "You know it's the Kazekages kid right? Family first?"

There were some murmurs of agreement.

Sasuke continued on his way, ignoring the adults and walked without further interruptions. Once he reached his destination he fiddled with his cast. Nervously standing outside of the park area he looked for signs of his bag. Spotting it close to the cliffs edge half buried he ran to it. Looking through his bag he found the chakra weights. Next to his bag was the book he'd been reading before he'd run into Gaara. Picking up his things he turned to leave.

A burst of sand showered the area and Sasuke went still. Turning back around he crept towards the edge of the cliff and looked behind it, there he saw Gaara glaring at the ground panting.

"Shut up." Gaara growled quietly. Sasuke backed away quickly, dully noting the absence of anyone coming to look for him.

Suddenly Gaara fell to his knees. As Sasuke watched, Gaara began to shiver. A sob sounded from the shivering mess. Gaara soon broke down into a full meltdown and the sand around him moved in an agitated dance, desperate to help.

Sasuke thought about leaving. In fact, he knew he should just taking into account how dangerous Gaara was. Sasuke looked back at Gaara indecisively and turned to leave. He was sure if he ducked out quickly Gaara would never know he'd even been there.

Sobs were turning into wails of desperation. Sasuke stood paralyzed. Gaara had hurt him, attacked him, but Sasuke remembered the times they'd also played together and hung out. He thought of when Gaara had invited him over for breakfast and they'd destroyed the place. Even though Gaara hadn't known it, the time they'd spent together had been nearly the only thing keeping Sasuke sane as he'd gotten used to his new life. He knew he couldn't leave Gaara there alone. At least he could try to see if he'd be any help, to return the unknown favor Gaara had given Sasuke.

Keeping an eye on the sand, Sasuke hesitantly came closer. As he neared Gaara the sand seemed to part, letting him through, almost as though it knew it couldn't help, but it wanted Sasuke to do what it could not. Sasuke set his bag down and knelt to the ground beside Gaara. He set a hand on Gaara's shoulder and Gaara flinched out of reach.

As Gaara looked up, Sasuke found he was at a loss for words. He awkwardly looked away from Gaara and pulled his hand back to his side.

"Are you okay?" Sasuke asked after a moment of torturous silence.

Gaara stared at him uncomprehendingly.

"What?" Gaara finally responded in a daze, tears beginning to stem.

"I mean…" Sasuke started to stand, shifting from one foot to the next. "I was just asking…you know, if you're okay?"

Gaara looked back at the ground and slowly stood up.

"I guess." Gaara said, looking up at Sasuke.

Sasuke nodded and picked up his bag. "Okay, then."

After a moment Sasuke broke the silence again.

"So," Sasuke cleared his throat nervously, "Where's Yashamaru-san?"

"He…he's dead." Gaara finally choked out after a bout of heavy silence.

"What? What happened?" Sasuke asked concerned, sadness slipping into his chest.

Gaara's eyes widened and tears began to pour again. He turned his head away from Sasuke and rubbed his eyes, trying to stop himself from crying.

"I don't know! He's just gone! I didn't mean to…I didn't know!" Gaara's sentences blurred becoming incomprehensible.

"When did he…?" Sasuke trailed off.

"Last month." Gaara blankly answered, looking at the ground to hide his tears.

That was when Gaara had attacked him, Sasuke thought swallowing a lump in his throat.

"Are you…" Sasuke stepped closer.

"Why are you here?" Gaara asked suddenly, desperate for a subject change.

Sasuke raised his bag. "I was looking for this."

Gaara nodded, wiping his eyes with a sniffle.

"I lost it after…" Sasuke trailed off, waving his hand over the sand awkwardly.

Gaara stared emotionlessly, then frowned.

"Oh." Gaara looked back at the ground. "I'm sorry…honestly. I really didn't…I…" Gaaras sight started blurring again.

Sasuke looked at him uncertainly.

After a moment Sasuke nodded. "Okay."

Gaara looked startled. "Okay?"

"Okay." Sasuke affirmed.

Gaara swallowed and tried to speak.

"I've got to go home, I'll see you at school tomorrow." Sasuke said quickly ducking his head and walking away.

Gaara watched him walk away, baffled by their conversation.

* * *

As Sasuke made his way back to the apartment he felt guilt twist in his gut. How could he of thought Gaara was like 'him', that Gaara would hurt a friend to test his powers. Gaara wasn't that kind of person.

Sasuke knew how the loss of family could affect a person. How the agonizing pain could tear into your very soul. While Sasuke had dealt with the aftermath of his own loss by running away from his home and ignoring the problem at absolutely all cost, he knew that Gaara had probably just dealt with his own grief differently.

Although it had hurt, both physically and mentally, Sasuke could certainly forgive Gaara for acting so strange. He'd hope that anyone left, not that there was anyone, would forgive Sasuke for abandoning the village after all.

Sasuke opened the door to his apartment and felt the unwelcome warm air wash over him. He entered the room and dropped his bag on the counter. For a second, Sasuke felt the sadly familiar pain of loss pervade his senses. Yashamaru may not have been terribly close to him, but he'd still felt a connection with the man. Something close to a friendship of sorts.

"Eh-hm." Someone cleared their throat and Sasuke spun with a kunai in hand.

"Very good! Nice reflexes there pipsqueak." Chun stood up from the futon and clapped.

Sasuke glared and put his kunai away. "What are you doing here?" He asked angrily, having not seen her since she'd left him at his apartment weeks ago.

Chun shrugged, "Meh, just drew the short straw. Had to check up on the silly little civilian students. You were last in line in my stops. Figured I'd hangout, talk with you personally and all that jazz."

Sasuke made a face and turned away.

"Well we have to keep tabs on you guys. You're under our protection and care after all. Usually I bypass the whole talking with the kids thing, but someone," At this Chun glared at the wall, "Ratted me out and, as it would seem, I've actually got to talk with you cutie pies. It's the rules."

Sasuke glared at the name calling and went to his fridge to find some food.

"Soo... help me out here. Not a mind reader you know." Chun leaned against the counter. At Sasukes glance she rolled her eyes.

"How have you been?" She spoke slowly.

"Hn." Sasuke pulled out some rice he'd made earlier.

"Hn? What the hell does that mean? Is some kind of code? Are we learning a new language? Are you suddenly mute?" Chun asked.

Sasuke just stared at her seemingly starting some staring game as Chun stared back.

There was a long pause.

"Hn."

"Really? Kami, what is with this generation?" Chun asked herself. Rolling her eyes she took the pot of rice from Sasuke and got herself a bowl.

Sasuke took it back once she was done looking scandalized and got himself a bowl. Chun proceeded to fill Sasuke in with what she'd been doing recently and complaining about the lack of action as of late.

"It's like there's nothing to do around here. I'm just Chunin right now, but I'm going to make Jounin soon. See, I'm ready for the position, I just haven't taken the test, which is notoriously difficult, and the only other way is to catch the Kazekages' eye, or someone else with the power to up my rank, and they'll just have to see I'm ready."

Sasuke turned a page in his book and took a bite of rice.

"Uh-huh." He murmured absentmindedly.

Huffing, Chun put her bowl in the sink and headed for the door.

"Well as great as this conversation was," She said unlocking the door, "I've got to get my report in. You hang in there, pipsqueak!" She laughed at Sasukes obvious dislike for the name and walked out, shutting the door with a click.

Sasuke placed his own bowl in the sink and washed them both. Finishing off the chores and placing the rest of the rice in the fridge Sasuke went to bed on the futon, exhausted by his day.

* * *

At school the next day Gaara wasn't sure what to expect. He got to class early and sat in his normal seat alone. Then he waited for the rest of the students to enter like he always did.

When Sasuke came in he stood in the doorway looking around the class. As he was walking to his seat he paused a moment, then passed it and sat down right next to Gaara.

"Good morning." Sasuke greeted him tiredly. Gaara waved half-heartedly, still in a mild shock.

Some of the other students stared at Sasuke, but none approached the table or spoke to him in fear of gaining the unwanted attention of the jinchuriki. After a few minutes of hushed whispering and nervous glances in their direction one brave girl walked up to the table and stood to the side of Sasuke, as far away from Gaara as she could get.

"Hey!" She whispered in an alarmed manner. Sasuke looked up from the book he was reading and gave her a scrutinizing stare. She blushed awkwardly and squeaked before pointing at Gaara with wide eyes.

"Gaara?" Sasuke asked in a normal voice. "What about him?"

"Uh…He…You shouldn't…" She stuttered in a whisper realizing she now had both boys attention. "I…I just was saying… He's a monster!" She blurted out. "He kills people! You can't sit here!"

Gaara looked away and ducked his head, peeking out at Sasuke to see what happened.

Sasuke stared at her a moment in confusion.

"We're training to become ninja." He said finally. "We all kill people."

At that the girl paled and backed away until she reached her seat with her friends and they began to whisper.

Several looked over at the table towards Sasuke, some glaring, some in awe.

As the teacher entered the class, the students sat down and quieted, and the teacher gave a quick look towards Sasuke, but didn't say anything about the new seating arrangements.

During lunch Gaara went to sit on his own as he usually did. In the shade of the building he unwrapped his meal, some leftover rice he'd scrounged from the fridge and a few raw vegetables. As he ate he felt a shadow looming over himself. Afraid of a confrontation he refused to look up. Suddenly the shadow was gone and a person sat down next to him. Gaara looked over finally, surprised to find Sasuke unwrapping a box and eating while reading a book. Not sure how to react, Gaara returned to his own meal. Soon after a white haired kid came over with a brown haired kid in tow. There was a pause before Sasuke looked up from his book and waved at them.

"Hey, Ryo. Kiato."

"Uh, who's that?" The kid with brown hair asked as he sat on the other side of Sasuke, away from Gaara.

"Gaara." Sasuke answered before returning to his reading.

"Oh…" Ryo smiled uncertainly and waved shyly.

Gaara waved back timidly and quickly turned back at his food.

"Tch. Why are you letting the freak sit with us?" Kiato asked glaring at Gaara, who was currently asking himself the same question.

Sasuke ignored Kiato.

"Hey!" Kiato stared at Sasuke.

"Hn?" Sasuke turned a page in his book.

"What?!"

Sasuke looked at Kiato and rose an eyebrow.

"I want an answer!" Kiato growled.

There was a pause and Sasuke turned another page.

"Hn."

"Whatever!" Kiato slammed down his lunch box and took out his food angrily.

Ryo looked at Kiato surprised, then turned to Sasuke.

"Sorry," Ryo said in a quiet voice, "The other students have been messing with him."

Sasuke nodded and went back to his meal.

When the school had decided to allow the new civilian students into the classes a great deal of the already existing students had felt cheated. They'd worked rigorously to attain the level of strength they now had, yet these new students had been placed in the classes despite their lack of training. Although the new students were expected to make up for it with extra classes late in the evenings and over all breaks, most of the original students looked down on them and refused to acknowledge them as equals. The focus of Kiato and Ryo's conversation revolved around the more aggressive students, who had begun attacking the new students both verbally and physically. Kiato had made it his goal in life to prove them all wrong, to show he wasn't weak or stupid, and consequently painted a nice target on his back for himself.

"So, what about you Sasuke?" Kiato asked as he shifted to look at his new listener. Sasuke looked up and rose an eyebrow.

"What are those idiots doing to you?"

"Nothing." Sasuke shrugged. Luckily, coming to class early and leaving the moment the bell rang gave the bullies few chances to ever catch him alone. Though none currently held any specific grudge against him, so it was likely he was also being over looked. That was fine with Sasuke.

"Tch. And you?" Kiato directed the question at Gaara.

Gaara shook his head then shrugged, genuinely baffled by the idea of the possibility that such a thing would ever be remotely possible.

Kiato huffed and started eating his food.

"So," Kiato started as he swallowed. "Our birthday's in a couple of days." Ryo looked up from his food.

"Really? Already? I forgot it was so close." Ryo grinned.

"Yep. I'm gonna be nine this year!" Kiato informed his audience.

"I'm turning eight." Ryo stated. Sasuke nodded.

"So, when's your birthday?" Kiato asked. "Oh wait, you don't have any memories, right?"

"You can share our birthday. We don't know our real birthdays either. It's really just the day Saburo-san found us and took us to the orphanage." Ryo said.

"July twenty-third." Sasuke said quietly.

"Huh?" Everyone looked up. Sasuke pulled at his ponytail.

"July twenty-third. That's when I have my birthday." Sasuke said before returning to his book.

"What's so special about that day?" Kiato asked.

"Hn." Sasuke shrugged.

'Sasuke can't remember his past?' Gaara thought curiously as he watched the conversation.

"Huh." Kiato turned his attention back to Ryo and they began discussing what they were going to do to celebrate. Suddenly they turned to Sasuke.

"Hey! So you wanna come over for our party?" Ryo asked.

"You don't have to." Kiato assured them.

Sasuke shook his head.

"Aw, come on! It'll be fun!" Ryo started pouting.

"When exactly is it?" Sasuke asked as Ryo grinned.

"May fifteenth!" He informed them.

"Okay." Sasuke agreed after a moment.

Kiato rolled his eyes and groaned. "I said you didn't have to come."

Sasuke shrugged. "Hn."

"Gaara and I will come over after school." Sasuke said.

Gaara blanched.

"Uh…um…" Kiato swallowed.

"Okay! You don't need to get any presents or anything, just so you know. We aren't really doing anything." Ryo smiled, unaware of Kiato's stammering.

The school bell rang so they packed up their lunches and started back towards the building.

"Here's our address." Ryo handed Sasuke a piece of paper.

Sasuke took it and nodded, slipping the paper in between his book pages as a marker.

* * *

After school, Gaara began walking home quickly. All day had been strange for him, from the moment Sasuke sat down in class with him everything just felt out of place. He couldn't understand Sasuke. His actions made no sense to Gaara, after all Gaara was a monster, at least there was a monster in him, and he'd hurt Sasuke. Ignoring everything Gaara went to turn a corner.

"Hey! Wait up." A familiar voice called out. Gaara turned to see Sasuke catching up to him and waited to see what Sasuke needed.

Sasuke waved and started walking with Gaara, remaining quiet as they headed for their destinations. After a few moments of silence Gaara finally stopped walking and crossed his arms feeling annoyance with Sasuke enter his mind.

"What are you doing?" Gaara asked.

"Hn?" Sasuke looked back.

"Why are you following me? Why did you sit next to me in class? Why are you talking to me?!" Gaara felt tears prick his eyes.

"I thought that's what friends did?" Sasuke answered.

"But…" Gaara just stopped. "We're not friends!"

Sasuke looked hurt. "Why?"

"I'm…I attacked you!" Gaara yelled confused.

"But you said sorry." Sasuke reminded him. "So, we're okay."

Gaara looked at Sasukes cast. "You're still hurt." Gaara said.

Sasuke shrugged, "It comes off at the end of the week."

After a moment Gaara finally started walking again. Shocked into silence Gaara tried to wrap his head around this new turn of events. Hope reappeared in his chest and the crushing sense of loneliness he'd felt since Yashamarus' death began to ebb away.

Sasuke turned down a road and waved good-bye to Gaara as they parted ways.

Gaara returned the wave and smiled. As he came to sit under the tree behind the Kazekages' house, he realized he couldn't wait for the next day.

He couldn't wait to see his friend.

* * *

_Hello,_

_So it would seem I took a bit of a break. Got lost on the path of life, or something similar. I didn't mean to (nobody gets lost on purpose!), although I highly doubt that matters. I also can't promise it won't happen again, but I have reawakened my interest in this idea and I am again working on this project._

_To my readers, sorry! To the newcomers, a sorry for the future._

_In response to my reviews, although it may be late, here we go._

**Danish78- **Thank you for the support, I'm glad you enjoy the characterization.

**MuffinMan9223-** I'm glad you enjoy this! Whether you're correct about the Sharingans consequences, well that's for later on in the story! ;)

**Maximoffs forever- **This is in fact a rewrite of Mad World! The first draft just made me cringe though. Quite honestly, I'm just barely hanging on to this version without scraping every other chapter. I also wanted to say, thank you! After rereading my chapters I realize it does get a bit confusing. I tried working on it this time, but I may have missed a thing here or there. Also, seriously, sorry for the wait. :/

**Red-eyed-Raven-191- **Thank you for the praise and the wonderful idea! As you can see, I've already took up your suggestion and started Sasukes fans. :)


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